


Cat's Cradle

by InsominiacArrest



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Action, Awkward Flirting, Cats, Comedy, Fluff, Getting Together, Humor, M/M, Masturbation, Mutual Pining, Sex Dream, Sexuality, Sloppy Makeouts, Space Stations, minor injury, no Gallra empire
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-19
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2018-07-25 10:17:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 28,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7528882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsominiacArrest/pseuds/InsominiacArrest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lance has a cat named ‘Blue’ and Keith has ‘Red,’ Lance goes looking for his kitty and finds her snuggled up to Keith’s cat in their neighborhood.</p><p>He has a meltdown about how to support his lesbian cat and forces a conference on Keith about being in-laws, or at least Lance tries to and Keith rolls his eyes.</p><p>They bond over being bad at naming animals, there is much talk about cat sexuality, Pidge has to leave the room at several points from obnoxious undiagnosed flirting.<br/><a href="http://insomniac-arrest.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. All Cat's Are Gay in the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> warning for compulsory cat-heterosexuality

The space colony of Voltron practically required a cat: the place was lousy with mice and rats. It wasn't exactly exterminator central either with nerds and point-dexters filling the population instead of practical jobs like vermin-catcher. 

Not that he minded having a cat, Blue was the absolute best. She had wide cobalt eyes (that maybe-sort-saw ghosts? He had his suspicions), petite paws with bright pink beans on them, and meowed happily every time he came in the door. Not to mention, she was a present from his parents when he announced he was moving to space to try to join the Voltron program.

She reminded him of home.

So, he was admittedly concerned when he walked into his “minimalist” apartment and didn’t hear her calling out in her little tumbling voice.

“Blue?” He called into the cramped space, “Blue, where ya’ at fluff ball?”

He takes off his work-mandated visor and started inspecting the living room/kitchen/dining room area. “Blue, here kitty, kitty…” He takes his search up the stairs to find an open window with a bent screen. “Oh,” his eyes go wide, “oh!” He dashes outside, legs pumping in the late evening air.

Who knew how long she had been using that thing to get out. He screeches out onto the street like he’s on a high speed chase and then practically hits a wall, pants and then starts surveying the wide, spotless street. He begins with the alley’s and all the nooks and crannies cats like to get into.

“Bluuuue~,” He wished at that moment cats were more like dogs and they liked coming to their names more than ignoring it like a bad smell. He spots a little old woman on the street, “Hey!” She speeds up as he addresses her.

“Hey, have you seen an adorable cat with blue eyes and gray and white fur, like this.” He steps in front of her and makes cat ears with his hands.

The old lady with a tall bun and bent back blinks at him, “son, I’m late for a chemistry convocation.” She side-steps him and he deflates, no one was very helpful here, “try the fences.”  
  
The low light of a long day stretches the shadows on the street and Lance tracks the edges of the winding gray fence that bordered the neighborhood.

“Here kitty...” He called half-heartedly, his spirits washing out like bathwater down the drain. “Come on, stupid, you don’t eat without me!” He stomped his foot on the ground and huffed into the cooling air.

He hears a bell-like meow from farther down the street, “Blue!” He throws his arms in the air and starts running, “I knew you liked me-- and also food.”  
  
He examines the area and checks the top of the dumpsters until he hears the second meow and follows it towards an empty flower box in a back alley. One singular street lamp shone down on the grassy narrow street.

A small cat covered in white and grey patches stuck her head up from inside one of the flower pots, he practically leaped up into the air.

“My beautiful daughter!” He exclaimed, Lance really liked his cat, alright? He went to go bury his face in her short fur when she ducked her head down immediately. "Oh come on."

He makes a face and then approaches slowly, just in case a raccoon was holding her hostage or she was eating like, roadkill in a box

Blue mewed again and he watches as she licks the ear of another cat, Lance blinks.

The other cat purred loudly at Blue and licked her fuzzy chest, Lance pops up an eyebrow at the display. Blue leans down and winds her lithe body around the other cat, cleaning the other's neck as she laid down on top of the red-tabby.

“Huh?” Lance leans down and examines the cuddling of the two animals, the other one was an orange, almost fox-like, tabby. “Oh-huh-ho,” Lance chuckles lowly, “You’ve got yourself a little boyfriend. I see.” He folds his arms and watches their displays of affection.

“Just don't go and get yourself pregnant, we don’t need more mouths to feed and you're too young to be a mother.” He lectures his cat. “Come on,” Lance darted his eyes around and then bent down low to reach into the flower box. “We really do have to go home, it will be dark and who knows how big the rats get outside of our houses.” They got big.

He goes to pick up little Blue, when she complains loudly and ducks, going in to lick the orange cat’s neck fur and make Lance growl. “Look you’re cute, really really cute, in fact I’m kind of jealous right now.”

“Who’s cute?” Lance stiffens from head to toe and he can feel two years taken off his entire life-span.

He jerkily turns his head around one inch at a time. He inwardly groans when he hears who he think he does: Keith Kogane, in the flesh, standing behind him in a stupid red-leather jacket.

“Uh, J-lo?” Lance offers and stands up in one fluid motion.

Keith shakes his head at him and stands with his arms folded across his chest, “what are you doing out here?” Keith glanced at his watch, “it’s an hour until curfew.”  
  
“I’m getting my cat!” He defends hotly and points at the ground.

“Your cat is a flower box?” The other boy snorts, “figures.”  
  
“Oh, junk off, Keith Kogane.” Keith did not get the honor of having just one name, he would have both.

Keith rolls his eyes, “you’re a child. Got it.”  
  
Lance could have boxed him at that moment, or maybe pulled his mullet like a school kid with someone’s pigtails.

“Meow,” a deep purr comes from inside the box and the orange cat sticks its head up from inside the box.

“Oh,” Keith blinked down, “there you are Red.”  
  
“Red?” Lance blew air out of his nose, “he’s orange, Keith. Nice naming ability.”  
  
Keith scowled at him and moved to get closer to the flower box, “don’t you have somewhere else to be stupid at?”  
  
“No,” Lance huffed and tried to think of a retort. “ _No_.” It was true, neither of them had class that night so of course Lance had run into his rival.

Keith dodged to get to a door in the fence, “if you would just move…”

Lance shook his head, “I’m talking to my cat, such as having better taste in men, and not to run off like a rebellious teenager. You hear me young lady? This isn’t good for either of us.”

“She.”

“What?” Keith blinked up at him with full dark eyes.

“She, Red is a female cat.” Keith reached down and tried to pick up his feline, Lance’s mouth hung open. He crouched to the ground and touched the top of Blue’s head.

“I accept you for who you are.” He says with teary-eyed sincerity. "You can like who you like."

“What are you doing idiot?”  
  
“I’m accepting my cat's sexuality, fuck off.”

Keith had a sudden burst of laughter from behind him, a small hiccup of noise that sounded like it even surprised Keith himself.  
  
“I don’t care if you like girl cats, you can be a lesbian, or bi or pan, or anything...you just can’t like _this_ girl cat.” Lance explained to her before picking her up by the armpits, she meows mournfully in protest, “I know, I know, love sucks.”  
  
“Oh my God,” Keith was weaving his fingers through his hair, Lance steps aside and Keith motions towards Red, “You are ridiculous.”  
  
“Keep your cat away from my daughter!” Lance exclaimed and held Blue closer in his arms, Keith rolled his eyes.

“Red is an outdoor cat, I don’t control what she does.” Keith opened his gate to what appeared to be his apartment, Red hopped out of the flower box and seemed to be ready to follow him.

“That’s barbaric and I’m leaving.”  
  
They part ways under strained terms and Blue meows in his arms the whole way home (which was admittedly not that far).  
  
“Stupid Keith, with his stupid hair and stupid grades and probably job that probably isn’t _the_ worst.”

“Meow.”  
  
“I know Blue, it really is too much.” He makes the final turn into his complex.  
  
“Hey, Lance, what’s up?” Lance’s neighbor Hunk greets him at the entrance to his apartment.

“Nothing!” Lance growled at the ceiling.

“Uh, you’re all sweaty.” Hunk poked him in the shoulder.  
  
“My daughter is a lesbian and she has terrible taste in women.” He turned on Blue, “we are going to have a long conversation.”  
  
Lance opens his apartment door and almost slams it.

“Wait, I thought we could study together,” Hunk says through the door.

  
“Oh right,” Lance reopens the door and then swears to have a long conversation with Blue after dinner and calculus two homework.


	2. Love is Love

Keith found Red on a particularly bad night. He had a terrible fever, the type that blurred your vision and fried your brain, prompting him to stumble to the local CVS for some aspirin after cerfew, he proceeded to run into a cat he thought was talking to him.

It had started raining, or technically a ‘cleaning of the satellite colony’ but it was wet and uncomfortable and flattened his hair down.

Then he had almost fallen on his face in a cloud of delirium and stood up to find a large orange cat inches from his face.

Keith swore upon his parents grave, and maybe some other orphan’s, that the cat opened its maw and said ‘take me home with you Keitheyboy’ in a Clay Aiken voice.

Later, he would reflect on this as grade A delusions, but the impression of a talking cat had a lasting effect: he kept her.

He had bundled her up from the rain in his jacket and ran home, coughing and swaying back and forth as he went, he fed her all his tuna and she slept on his feet that night.

He immediately named her Red, after her orange fur, his favorite color and the fact she was red-hot when she literally slept on his face in the middle of the summer.

Sure, she dragged mice home with her and dropped them at his feet with the look of someone shouting ‘look bitch, this is how you do it’ in a grocery store. However, she was also companionable and soft and Keith could use that. She, of course, led to a very strange set of circumstances.

Keith wasn’t bothered by the boy on Marie Curie street, or the rats under his porch, or running low on eggs when it wasn’t even close to shopping day.

He may, however, have been bothered by the boy on Marie Curie street when he comes to his door in the middle of the day and knocked on it five times. Keith had homework to do, and the knocking immediately came off as obnoxious.

“Hey!” The boy called through the door, “hey you, we need to talk.”  
  
Keith’s pencil froze and he dotted his ‘i’ with an angry dash mark and stood up. He went to the door and gradually peaked through the eye hole. It was the short-haired, sharp-faced tall boy with a pout on his lips.

“What do you want?” Keith asked and the boy frowned deeper.

“We need to have a serious discussion. And maybe a haircut on your part, but I digress.” Keith looked down and spotted one delicate gray cat and one huge orange one in his hands. He was holding them apart.

“The cats? Again?” He also muttered to himself that insulting him was not off to good start, but he opens the door anyway.

“What is it?” He blinked several times and looked the boy up and down, “did my cat start picking fights with yours all of the sudden? She does that.”  
  
He shook his head, “actually...they are in love and it is a beautiful, truly unfortunate thing.” Lance barged his way in and soon was standing in Keith’s mud room/coat room/entrance way.

“This place looks exactly like mine.” He observed wryly and the cats struggled in his arms, Keith shut the door behind them.

“Architects were not creative in apartment design.” Keith crossed his arms across his chest, “equality through sameness. Creativity through science. The new colony of Voltron." He parroted some of their promotional material.

Lance nodded slowly and Red managed to leap out of his arms and onto her feet, Blue, the gray cat, mewed loudly and tried to follow.

“So what it is this about?” Keith asks bluntly and leans back against the wall.

Lance turns around dramatically with his jacket splaying out around him, he holds Blue up by the armpits. “We need to talk about being in-laws.”

Keith groans and massages the bridge of his nose. “Okay...No thanks.”  
  
Lance shook his head, “don’t be like that Keith Urban, our children are maturing and need support. Being a lesbian cat can’t be easy- all the other cats think they’re ‘just friends’ and call it a phase.”  
  
“One. No. Cat’s don’t care and are better than people. Two, who is Keith Urban? You know my whole last name...For some reason.”

Lance steps backward, “you’re lack of knowing Keith Urban is going to ruin the entire rest of my day. Furthermore, ‘for some reason’? We had class together! Remember? I showed you my test scores and tried to one up you in aerodynamics, and then you ignored me and probably started an emo band in the bathroom.”  
  
Keith rolled his eyes, “you have a good memory.”  
  
“Do _you_ know my name?” Lance said in awe as his eyes went wide, Blue managed to jump out of his arms.

Keith narrowed his eyes and tilted his head, “...Kevin?”

Lance threw his arms in the arm and made a high-pitched noise, “I heard about hating your in-laws, but this is too much!”

Keith scoffed and look away, “what is it then?” He scratched the back of his neck. “Henry…?"

“Oh my God.’ Lance’s mouth hung open, he leaned on the door frame next to Keith and leaned forward, “name's Lance.” He sniffed, “You’ll be hearing about me- I’m going places.”  
  
“Right.” Keith says slowly, “do want some tea or something Lance if you’re not leaving?”

Lance straitened up and looked perplexed, “that’s a very rude way to be polite, but sure. That sounds good.”

Keith sighs, he already had his kettle on so he just added more water and waited for it to boil again. He doesn’t ask what type Lance wants and just puts in a Jasmine tea. He wanders back over to his dining room table Lance was drumming his fingers on the wood.

He was already seated and shaking his leg up and down, Keith puts the drinks down and sits across from him.

“So….”

Lance gestures around, “I’m just as unhappy about this as you are. _But_ , I read Romeo and Juliet in the 9th grade- we all knows how this plays out if we don’t do something.”  
  
Keith puts his head in his hands and then looks up again, “I don’t thing miscommunication is going to ruin our cats and kill like 9 people.”  
  
Lance sniffs softly, “you don’t know that…”

Keith barks a laugh and stirs his tea, “okay, what is this about?”  
  
“Isn’t it obvious.” Lance points to their cats, situated next to each other like a set. “They are in love.  And we are now bonded together as kin.” Lance leaned over and starred his cat in the eye, “Blue.” He sniffed. “You are valid.”  
  
Keith broke into another laugh that he hid behind his hand, “so, what are you proposing?” Keith snorts, “a feline-themed coming out party? A wedding?”

Lance looked at him with wide eyes, “do you think we could pull that off?”

“I’m joking...  _I_ didn’t even get a coming out party.” He finishes as he sips his too-hot tea, burning his tongue along the way but he’d be damned if he revealed that to Lance.

“Okay, yes, that is unfortunate and I am going to store that information away. But consider this:” He dramatically pauses and splays his hands out, “cat’s in tiny tuxes.”

Keith’s shoulders sink and he concludes this is one of his more bizarre experiences.

Lance continues, “And my friend Hunk bakes a mean cake. Maybe, he could make some sort of Meow Mix combination.”

Keith sighs at the ceiling, “you are one weird guy.”  
  
Lance huffs and sips his tea, “love is love.”  
  
One of their cat's meows and Keith can’t help but cover a surprised smile on his lips. “Our cats are gay.” He laughs.

“Exactly!” Lance crowed, “also, you did number five wrong. The limit does not exist- it’s not one.”

Keith frowned and leaned over his astrophysics homework, “are you sure?”  
  
“Of course.” The kid puffs out his chest, “this is what I _do_.”  
  
Keith frown deepens, “show me.” He didn’t phrase it as a question.

Lance starts pointing and babbling and Keith has to scribble it all down to keep up.

They finish their tea and continue to consider Keith’s homework until Lance has to go to work as a gym attendant.

Lance picks up Blue, who gave an angry ‘mmmrrruh,’ and waved at Keith with a patented goofy grin, Keith doesn’t know how to feel.

“Alright. Don’t overfeed Red, I don’t want her to squish Blue when they cuddle.”

Keith shows Lance to the door, “ _you_ feed your cat more.” Keith fixes him with a look, “ _in-law_.”

Lance’s mouth falls open, “Blue is petite and the perfect size.”  
  
“Goodnight Lance.” He shuts the door so they can’t get into another argument, as they do. Keith presses his head against the door and wipes his sweaty palms on his jeans.

He turns around and slides down the wall and glances over to Red, “what are you looking at? Don’t give me that look."

She just meows somewhat judgmentally and walks over.

Keith shakes his head, “this isn’t anything.” She jumps into his lap and he sighs and assures her he accepts her too.


	3. Boy on a Hot Cat Roof

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> been awhile, I know
> 
> warning for mild injury in this chapter

Lance expected to see Keith a lot more after that, after all, _his_ dad was always complaining about having to see mom’s in-laws like the clockwork: whenever someone started the sentence ‘have you heard…’ or his parents bonuses came in.

However, being cat-in laws turned out to be a little different. Sure, they saw each other in class but sat at opposite ends of the room. Lance answered all the questions (with varying degrees of success but no lack of enthusiasm) and Keith sat moodily at the end of the row looking out the window like it was a Monet painting.

Lance still had a word or two to say to his daughter.

The main thing he had to get used to was that her girlfriend (catfriend?) inspired a wild streak in her, a sassiness, she mewed at the door insistently until he let her out.

She had been corrupted into an _outdoor_ cat.

He let her go because he was an understanding parent and could only listen to her for so long, but he didn’t _like_ it, he just had neighbors that complained. Two weeks past until he saw the actual cat Red again though.

He was sitting at his kitchen island trying to write an apology letter to Pidge for frying one of her motherboards (though it was more of ‘I’m sorry, now please show me how to beat level 7 of Street Fighter 12).

He was trying to phrase the sentence ‘pointing out the whole sweating buckets in our chem class thing was a friend thing. A bro thing. Please show me the double hit combination’ in a good way. Then he heard mewing at the door.

Lance frowns and squares his shoulders, “I just let you out!” He huffs, she meows again. “You’re becoming impossible, don’t tell me this is normal.”

She gives a rumbling yowl and it’s slightly lower than her usual silver-bell tone, he raises an eyebrow and goes to the door. “I swear, if you’re bringing me a cricket again, we already had this conversation. Just because your girlfriend hunts doesn’t mean you have to.”  
  
He opens the door and Blue was standing outside with her little tail high in the air, Lance leans down, “What is it, girl?”  
  
She sits down and meows, Lance shakes his head, “You coming in?” He steps aside and tries to show her the way in, she just sits there and looks at him. Lance thinks about the number for the cat psychic- _someone_ had to know what she was thinking. “The door is open, wide open.”

She gives a loud rumbling sound from her chest and looks ready to turn around, he groans and looks at the ceiling, “Are you seeing this Mama? Impossible. I know how you feel.”  
  
Lance was ready to close the door and throw out her catnip when he hears the chatter of another cat, it sounded bristling and distressed, Lance sticks his head out.

The very large orange tabby stood at the end of his apartment walkway, staring at the two of them and lashing her tail out back and forth behind her. Lance narrows his eyes, she growls at him, he growls back, “ _You._ ”

She makes a low noise and Lance jumps out of his apartment without shoes on, “Don’t threaten me, buddy! You’re the one that is tearing this family apart.”

She yells loudly into the air and turns around, Blue trots after her on light toes and Lance takes a deep breath in through his nose and trails after them.

“Oh no, no, you’re coming in for the night.” It was only 4, but it couldn’t hurt. Blue dodges his hands and he follows her back toward the stairs.

They make it halfway down the stairwell when he hears Red again, a rolling, anxious meow that cats only made when they were in trouble.

Lance stands up straight and follows Blue toward the orange tabby back on the ground, he watches Red run out to the street again, “Wait!” He runs after her, “I’m sorry, you can always come to me for help, we’re family.”  
  
Red continued to make her incredibly loud noises and Lance follows it down the next block or so, the street was pretty sparse at that hour: fences surrounded a white empty cobblestone street that was made for foot traffic and bikes- the citizens of Voltron didn’t spend much time outside anyway though.

Lance walks his way down to the end of the block and follows Red’s yowling to an empty intersection, “What is i-”  
  
“Rrrrow!” Lance turns quickly and finds Keith Kogane wincing on the ground.

Lance's eyes go wide and then he makes a beeline toward them, “Whoa, Keith,” He looks down and sees Keith’s bike on its side and a long gash down Keith’s inner thigh. His pants were crusted with a thick redness, Lance jumps, “Oh my God!”

Keith cringes and turns toward him, “Oh my God.”

Red meows again and rubs herself up against Keith’s back as he sits hunched over.  
  
Lance looks around, “Are you okay? No, wait, stupid question, what happened?”  
  
Keith sighed, and of course, only Keith would sigh like this was an inconvenience when he was on the ground with a bloody gash in his leg. “I fell.” He says shortly while nodding at his bike. “Some people in this town don’t know how to pedal.” Keith scowled, “Ran into that pole and snagged myself.”  
  
He gestures to the metal pole with a little hook that held a scrap of black material on it, Lance ran his hand through his hair, “Snag?” He kneels down. “Dude.” He says seriously, “That’s like,” he leans in and Keith looks ready to push him back, “Two inches.”  
  
Keith sighs again and tries to rearrange himself before wincing, “I’m fine.” He tries to get up, “Red just overreacts.”

Lance gives a half smile down to Keith’s fat orange cat, “You’ve got yourself a good girl here.”  
  
Keith chuckles and seemed to want to stand, “She’s just like that...she comes when I get hurt.”

Keith makes eye contact with Red and Lance bends down, “Okay? Weird, but okay. Here," Lance reaches his hand down to help Keith up, Keith just looks at it.

“I'm fine,” He looks around and breathes deeply, “I’ll be good in a second.”

Lance shakes his head and weaves his right arm underneath Keith’s armpits.  “Up you go.” He gives him at least the briefest warning before hoisting his body up.

“What are you doing?!” He flails a little bit and Lance lifts him, trying to shift all of Keith’s weight off his bad leg and onto himself.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” He puffs out his cheeks, “I’m helping.”  
  
Keith deflates slightly, “You can’t just.” He frowns, “I can’t just...leave my bike.” He points to their colony-issued bike that had the same pale, pale blue as every other bike.

Lance arches his eyebrows, “Bro, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I’ve had things literally forced into my backpack before I’ve had them stolen here.”

Voltron was a special colony meant to train, hire and employ scientists and space explorers, very few people were anything but students, lab coats and rich people who wanted to get off world.

Keith leaned his chin back and made a face Lance wanted to punch, “Look closer.”

Lance sighs and looks back before noticing the bike handles, he stands up straight, Keith grunts from the jostling, “Is that an 18 gear?” His mouth fell open, Blue meowed by his leg.

Keith sniffed, “Yep. Remodeled it myself.” He looked a little too pleased with himself, Lance turned to him with a wide smile anyway.

“That’s so sweet! I can’t even get up hills on mine without breaking my back.”  
  
Keith grins at him and turns his head, “It’s really not the hard.”  
  
“Kk, but,” Lance elbows him gently, “How did you even get the supplies?” Keith clenched as jaw at the movement and Lance shook his head, “Right, reckless driving, get you home.”  
  
Keith frowned, “I’m really-”  
  
“No complaining,” Lance started their walking, taking most of Keith's weight as they hobbled forward, “You have ‘three stitches’ written all over your leg so I can walk you to the hospital or my place.”  
  
“Your place?” Keith blinks and Lance shrugs.  
  
“Yeah. I can take a look at it and figure out if I _should_ force you to a hospital.” He tries to distract Keith as they walk, trying not to look at his torn pants and gory thigh.

“No hospitals.” Keith says shortly and looks away, “I’ll run.”  
  
Lance sighs, “Not on that leg.”  
  
They make it most of the way back to Lance’s apartment, Red kept walking very close to them and getting underfoot.  
  
“I can’t believe she Lassie-ed you,” He mumbles in awe. “Good moral fiber for a daughter-to-be.”

Keith sighed in his ear, “Lassie-ed me?” Keith glances at him, “Honestly.”  
  
Lance frowned, “If you don’t know who Keith Urban is or Lassie we’re going to have to send you back to the mothership." Lance furrows his brow seriously, "The wedding reception will just be the twenty greatest cultural icons of the 21st century, Pidge will make a playlist...you’ll have to watch every Nic Cage and I even I don't want that.”  
  
Keith rolled his eyes, “I know who Lassie is…” He tilts his head, “The dog, right? It dies?”  
  
Lance almost tosses him back onto the ground, he glances back at Blue, “The things I do for you…”  
  
Keith chuckles in his ear, “It’s not a Lassie thing,” Lance guides him back toward the stairs to his apartment, trying to figure out how to get Keith up them gently. Keith was still looking at his cat, “She just always comes when I’m hurt, I dunno, it’s just a thing.”  
  
Lance’s eyes go large and he focuses back on Keith, “Your cat really knows when you’re hurt?”

Keith shrugs and more of his weight shifted to Lance, “It’s not a big deal, animal instinct or something.” He mumbled.

“Blue won’t even let me hug her during the scary parts of Harry Potter.” He glances down at her, “You are being shown up right now you know.” She just blinks.

Keith’s arm tightened around Lance’s neck, “The scary parts…?”  
  
“Spiders!” Lance’s eyes go wide, “Don’t even get me started.”  
  
Keith chuckled again and Lance figures maybe he should just carry him up the stairs, “Okay. Now, don’t bite me, but I might bridle-style you.”  
  
Keith, expectedly, almost bit him.

“I’m trying to help you!” He complains as he tries to hoist him up and Keith yanks on his hair.

“I’d rather fall off the moon,” He hisses and they struggle while Lance watches Keith’s bad leg.

“You’re still bleeding!” Keith tries to put him in a headlock.

They eventually compromise to half-way piggy-back him up the two flights of stairs without jostling the deep gash too much and Lance gets him on his couch.

“Now, I’ve put some towels down, but if you move too much then they won’t mean much.” He walks around his kitchen, “and then people will ask me questions... Murder questions.” Lance says as he looks through his medicine cabinet. He had like four bandaids and some hand sanitizer.

“It’s alright.” He heard Keith hiss as he shifted on the couch, “If you want, we can just call Shiro, I think he’s off by now.”

“This is already happening.” Lance asserts and gathers the rest of his supplies. He comes back with a pair of scissors, a bowl of water and some ivory dishwashing soap. “Hold still.”

Keith was glaring at him Red at his feet, “I’m not sure I trust the guy that got slapped in the second floor biodome for asking if the professor had any sugar she’d like to share.”  
  
Lance’s face heats up, “That was one time!” He stuttered, “And a misunderstanding…” He pouts, “Now, _really,_ hold still, this thing has probably gone too long untreated anyway.”

Keith was no position to struggle too much and Lance deftly leans in and part the material around the cut to get a better look, only cringing a little at the torn skin. “Ouch.”

Keith folded his arms across his chest and look away, “You don’t have to-”  
  
Lance already wasn’t listening and started cutting away the dried pants from his skin, he’s a little too pleased with himself when he notices Keith’s face redden.

Lance mutters to himself and manages to cut away the bloody denim and started wiping at the wound, he only laughs a little when Keith’s boxers stick out, “Is that...that old kids cartoon?” He can’t quite place the robots on it. “Robot Wars?”  
  
Keith takes in a deep breath through his nose, “I don’t have to answer that.”  
  
Lance laughs and starts dabbing water around Keith’s wound gently, cleaning off the dried blood and little bits of fiber.

He hums as he bends down, “It’s not as bad as I thought.”  
  
Keith exhales, “I told you.”  
  
Lance takes his time lightly working on the cut itself, they stay mostly silent as Lance bends over his lap and cleans up his inner thigh. It’s not the least compromising position he’s ever been in.

Red rubs up against his leg, he glances down, “You’re alright,” He tells her, “Your dad could use to be more thankful and adorable like you.”  
  
He could practically hear Keith roll his eyes, but when he turns back around Keith was staring directly at him. “Thank you.” He says firmly, guilelessly. “I am thankful.”

It was Lance’s turn to blush and turn back to his work. “Don’t mention it.” He removes another speck of dirt and inspects the entirety of the cut, “Anyone would.”  
  
Keith was still burning holes in his cheek, “No. They wouldn’t.”  
  
Lance has to swallow very, very hard at that. “Uh, the rest of this is gonna sting.” He takes the ivory dish soap and pours it over the wound.

Keith handles it better than expected and doesn’t strangle him and Lance manages to get the whole thing clean and sanitized.

Lance gets Keith settled back in, “Now we bondage- bandage it and, uh, badabing-badaboom, it’s like you never careened headlong into a poll at all.” Lance smiles but doesn’t meet his eye.

Luckily, Keith doesn’t mention the first part and reaches to scratch Blue behind her ear.

“So, mini-tuxes, huh?” Keith says as he looks at the cats not without some humor.

Lance sniffs, “In the _future_ ,” he reaches for a long roll of bandages, “This thing they have has to last for at least one cat year, Blue is young and doesn’t know what she wants yet. We have to see it endure.”  
  
He can feel Keith breath on his ear, he jumps. “Seriously? She’s a cat.” Keith asks blankly, “You supplanting her for a real kid here?” Keith narrows his eyes, “How old are you?”  
  
Lance shakes his head, “Same age as you mullet, now move your hips, I’m going to roll this around your leg.”  
  
He watches Keith’s face pale, but he moves back with minimal protest as Lance rolls the bandage tightly around his thigh, one layer at a time while Lance really tries not to reflect on this. His thighs were really toned.  
  
“I had a lot of siblings,” Lance says, surprising myself. “It’s….like, you know. What we said to them.”

Keith raises an eyebrow, “Yeah?”  
  
Lance gives Keith’s thigh another layer, “Yeah.”

They stay like that for a very long second, Lance finishes tying up the end of the bandage and they pause, his hands laying over his thigh and boxers sticking out rigidly. It was ridiculous in its own way.

Finally, Lance clears his throat and sits back up. “It’s not uh, perfect, but it’ll hold.” He pats him on the shoulder, a good manly pat, three of each that firmly said ‘no homo.’ Until later maybe. In his mind.

Keith tilts his head, he flexes his leg back and forth, pumping it in the air experimentally, “It’s good.”  
  
Lance stands up quickly, he couldn’t just say things like that. Lance clears his throat again, “Do you want to…uh, anything else?”

“No, no,” Keith gives him a tight half-smile, “It's good. I should, you know, anyway.”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
They stare at each other awkwardly, Keith slowly gets backs up again, testing his battered leg.

“Thanks Lance,” He stands and rights himself, "I’m glad my cat likes your cat.”

Lance nearly has a heart attack and Keith turns to the door, Lance fumbles forward, “Do you want me to talk you home?”

Keith waves his hand above his head airily, “It’s two blocks. And,” Keith turned his head and Lance saw him bite his lip ever so slightly, “You’ve done enough.”  
  
Lance should follow him, but the little bit of blood on his hands and Keith’s exposed thigh was catching up to him, “You want some pants at least?”  
  
Keith accepts a pair of Lance’s baggiest sweats and they wave stiffly at each other as he leaves.

Lance deflates when the back of his mullet disappears and Blue makes a plea for her evening meal.

Lance kneels down, “My gay, gay daughter,” He scratches her head, “What have we done.” She nips his hand to ask for food and he looks off into space, “And by we I mean you.” He stands back up and moodily pours the cat food, absolutely not thinking of Keith Kogane’s thighs or voice or scent all over his couch.

  
He at least retrieves his bike for him later that night.


	4. The Go Around

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no one knows how to handle a single emotion

Keith was verging on 7 visits to the gym that week. Not the gym closest to his house, the other one, near the combination taco bell pizza hut and a shortage of bike racks.

His leg still ached and he’s pretty sure if he even did a single lunge it would yell at him like a banshee, but he here he was, at ‘The Happy Hearts Gym and Recenter.’

If someone asked him why he was there, he would lie.

It just so happened that Lance McClain was also there. The same Lance that had found him battered up on the side of the rode, the same Lance who dragged him home, cut off his pants and wrapped a long bandage around his thigh.

That one.

Keith had every reason to think it was just a kind gesture, the kind of guy Lance was, and then drop it. Or, _or,_ he could visit the gym 7 times in one week and hover outside and/or hover in the lobby.

Lance worked at the front desk, he wore a black visor with a little classic polo shirt and was always talking or moving or showing his coworker how he could almost lick his elbow.

Keith would lie if anyone asked him why he was there.

He stood in a dark sweatshirt with his hood put up, sweatpants rolled up to below the knee and a casual bag slung over his shoulder. He sort of was. Luckily for him, Lance was about as observant as a vole in a light palace and spent most his time on aforementioned elbow thing. And laughing. He did a lot of laughing. 

Keith was standing in the entranceway this time, contemplating maybe a just a simple hello and a ‘thanks for touching my bloody gashed thigh that one time.’ He was working on it.

Keith was thinking about turning around again. He had actually used this gym twice that week, but that was just because he could only be so creepy. He had checked in when Lance wasn’t the one at the front desk.

Keith watches Lance thread his fingers through his short hair, grin like a cat and throw his head back and laugh. Keith’s eyes go wide, he turns to leave. He could do this another day.

Keith was slowly turning when he heard a voice call out, “Oh hey, can we help you, sir?”  
  
Keith froze, the female desk worker was waving at him, “I noticed you were standing there. Do you need anything?”  
  
Keith could have run for the life of him and never thought about this again, “Hey, yo.” Keith turns around and Lance was watching him steadily. Keith clears his throat. “Uh,”

“Keith!” Lance threw his hands in the air, there was a goofy smile on his lips. Keith swallows, “I didn’t see you there.” Keith looks up to the ceiling and then back down, Lance calls over to him again, “Well don’t just stand there.”

Keith considers his options, but Lance’s blue eyes were smiling and he was standing, expectant, Keith shuffles over slowly. He clears his throat and responds stiffly, “What’s up?”

“What’s up?” Lance puts his hands on his hips, “Where have you been man? I was almost ready to ask Shiro about you.”  
  
Keith blinks and leans forward, “You were?” The words sounded dumb to his ears.

“Yeah,” Lance readjusted his visor in a short little move, “One! To know if you got gangrene on that cut so I can assure my mamma, that sure, being a doctor is still on the table.”  
  
Keith cracked a smile, “I’m fine.” He says softly.

“Well yeah,” Lance looked him over, “And two,” Lance narrowed his eyes, “You haven’t even been coming to get Red. She’s all over the place!”  
  
Keith chuckles and almost rolls his eyes at him, Lance’s coworker, a short red-head, tugs on Lance’s sleeve. “Who’s Red?”

Lance turned swiftly and put his arms in the air, “His cat. To our lesbian cats.” Keith wanted to bury his face in his arms at that, Lance was too blunt.

Lance’s co-worker, Keith glances at her nametag, Alice, sprouts a surprised smile, “What?”  
  
“Long story Al’,” Lance waves his hand in the air, “But one of neglect and drama and high romance.” Lance sniffs, “And this guy being the absent father of the piece.”  
  
Keith sighs, “I told you, she’s an outdoor cat. She does what she wants.”

Lance shakes his head, “She meowed at my door at 11 last night. Eleven!”  
  
Keith gave a half smile, “Oh yeah, I wondered why she wanted out at that time.”  
  
Lance’s mouth fell open and he shook his head, “Irresponsible. The wedding is off.”  
  
“Who’s wedding?” Alice asks as she tries to keep up between them.  
  
“The cat wedding.”

Alice laughed and then laughed again when she realized he was serious, she turned back to Keith- she was smiling very pleasantly at him. “Ignore Lance.” Keith almost takes a step back at that statement, how could he? “He’s just grumpy from the girl not giving her number. How can we _actually_ help you today?” Some people seemed to be working.

“Uh,” Keith’s eyes darted around, “Ahem.” He coughs into his fist, “I just wanted to...work out.” He says it so disjointed he felt like a robot trying to impersonate a blender.

Lance didn’t seem to notice, he was smiling hugely again, “Dude, you have a membership here?”

Keith nods stiffly and goes to fish out of his wallet from his pocket, he had gotten a temporary one when Lance wasn’t there a week ago. Just in case, ya’ know? He was an athlete. He could have lot’s of gym memberships across the space colony, it only made sense- Keith Kogane, Tuesday, 4:35 pm, lying to himself.

He hands over the temporary pass and Lance looks it over, “Cool, cool.” Lance types in some numbers, “Can’t wait to see your photo.”  
  
Keith raises an eyebrow and Alice turns her head slightly toward him, Lance pauses and then looks up, “Because I bet it looks silly!” Lance says quickly, his eyes wide and Keith tilting his head, “With your dumb mullet and bad hair.”  
  
Keith scowls and goes to snatch his card back, “Great. Good to hear.” He says hotly and considers leaving.

Lance was bouncing in place, his hand was firmly gripping Keith’s card, “But um, I’m sure it’ll be fine too?”  
  
If Keith wasn’t feeling the entire emotion bag of pandora’s box, he might have laughed. Lance was studying the ceiling like it was the Sistine chapel.

“Well,” Keith takes his pass back and puts it in his pocket, “That’s good. I’m gonna, you know,” He points, “Workout now.”  
  
“Uh-huh,” Lance was having a hard time. Then he waved at Keith as Keith headed toward the lifting area, “Have a fun time at Happy Heart’s Gym and Rec!” It sounded like a voice recording parroting a tin can.

Keith waves back and hears Alice loud-whisper to Lance beside her, “What the hell was that?”

“Shut up.” Lance huffs at her just loud enough.

Keith practically trips over one of the lobby chairs as he tries to enter the gym, Lance calls after him but he runs into the lifting room without looking back.

It was all a work in progress.

Keith runs around in lung-breaking loops on the indoor track until he figures Lance's shift is over, then he sneaks back out the front door.

He was still trying to piece together the 'hi, hello' thing for next time or the 'thanks for touching my bloody gashed thigh that one time.' He settles of forcing Red inside that night and squishing her soft fur to his face.

"Did you really have to do this?" He grumbles as he thinks about Lance in his little black polo again. She just meows back.


	5. What People Do

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for lack of a heads up, but the rating has gone up to M. Feel free to skip this chapter if you aren't into sexy stuff!

Lance should have known it was a dream because there were needles on the table and the lights inside his living room were as bright as God’s green room. He blinks into the blinding fluorescents above him and he shifts in place.

He heard the sound of Nascar in the background, the kind his brother watched when he was depressed or needed something to yell at. He always cheered for the blue car, even if someone from Florida was driving it.

Lance’s eyes drag toward a red car speeding down a sharp bend, it's siding shimmering in the too-bright-light and the engine purring so loud it filled the room. The TV felt too large and Lance felt like he was running on two hours of sleep and three energy drinks, a jittery anticipation coursing through his veins though he didn’t know why.

Lance tries to move but his hands seemed to be trapped behind his back, he wiggles back and forth and watches the cars zoom around the track in a daze.

“Hey.” A voice addresses him and Lance jumps, his head jerking to the side and his eyes find a new figure in the room. A dark-headed moody looking figure with uneven bangs. A Keith figure.

Keith was wearing the outfit Lance saw him in on Thursday: a pair of loose black shorts and a thin tank top that hugged his long torso. Maybe the tank top was a little thinner this time.

“Oh,” Lance hears his own voice crack like he was a sixth grader trying to hit high notes. Keith lifts his chin up in an aloof way, The Aloof way and Lance scowled. “Maybe you should put some more clothes on buddy.” Keith was shirtless now, Lance was pretty sure he’d never seen Keith shirtless before but his mind easily filled in the blanks.

Keith shrugged and tossed the white tank top to the side, he didn’t remember him taking it off, Lance gulped dryly.

He was keenly aware that Keith was walking toward him. His face was the same blank stare that resembled confused tourists trying to find the exit at the one room pizza joint, but again, his shirt was off.

He had a lean body, not all sharp angles and hard abs that he might see in a sports magazine, but a sloping waist and a dark, dark happy trail that was visible just above his low-riding shorts. They were delicate black hairs that drew a painted arrow down the V the indent of his hipbones. It was a nice indent.

The engines of the cars roar in the background like a symphony. Lance is staring at the shadow of those hipbones like his life might end.

Keith hovered over him, his posture loose and confident, in the way he remembered Keith after he aced tests or Keith after he ran the fastest mile. Lance was making himself angry now.

Keith’s eyes darted around the room, “Do you want me to turn that off?” He asks above the deafening sound of the race.

Lance eyes licked up and down Keith’s exposed neck, one delicate tendon ran down down into his thin chest. “I don’t think I can,” Lance replies hoarsely and the words echo off each other like a bizarre funhouse trick.

Keith looks back at him, down at Lance with his hands behind his back and ass sinking into the couch.

Keith tugs his shorts a little lower and Lance almost whines, he tries to dig some resolve up from the bottom of his will-power. Some part of him was blushing like a schoolgirl at this and wanted to show some restraint.

“Does Red approve of you being here? You’ll have to answer to her.” It somehow sounded a reasonable question at that moment.

Keith chuckled lowly, his mouth a pointed grin. Lance thought that maybe he had never seen a ‘pointed grin’ before but the devil sure was painting pictures tonight.

“She told me to come here and thank you,” Keith said like it was some sort of ordained duty and he didn’t completely want to be there, but some things just had to be done.

Lance shifts in place and feels himself slipping forward off the couch, “Thank me?”  
  
Keith raises his eyebrows, “You were my nurse weren’t you?”

Lance wiggles and watches as Keith points down at him, Lance looks at himself. He realizes he is wearing a very short nurse’s outfit, not the real kind, the one’s from Halloween stores when the factory was running out of fabric. His face heats up like a pan on a cooking show.

The little white dress barely covered an inch of his thighs and hugged the frame of his chest with neat rows of buttons. He let out a small squeak, he sees two narrow hands plant themselves on either side of Lance’s head. He feels Keith’s breath on his cheek, light puffs that made Lance squirm.

“I just uh,” Lance gulped, glancing up slowly, “Did the right thing?”  
  
Keith was closer than a mayfly was to its own death at every second, his eyes dropped down to Lance’s short dress and Lance felt a wave heat rising in his abdomen.

Keith licked his lips and Lance thinks he might have preferred being the mayfly at that point. Keith lifted Lance’s chin up and they are inches apart, a little spark running down Lance’s spine as their eyes met.

“I want to take care of you now.” Lance was pretty certain Keith would only say those words if he was in a bad Victorian play about duty of upper-class ladies. But Keith was still looking at him.

Lance’s mouth fell open as he realized he was waiting for a response. “I haven’t been with that many people.” He spits out quickly, apparently enjoying ruining things because he’s a ruiner. Even in places he knew weren’t entirely real. He’s about to backtrack like his name was ‘running for office,’ but Keith was looping an arm around his back.

“Good.” They were kissing.

Lance recalled the concept of what kissing was, but this was something else. Keith’s mouth was heavy and warm against him, instantly deepening the kiss with flick of his tongue and bearing down on him. Lance strained to keep up as he moved against him like he wanted to unlock a treasure box through fellatio.

Lance gasped in his mouth as he felt Keith pick him up, in one fluid movement he hoisted him off the couch and forced Lance to wrap his legs around Keith’s torso. Lance feels the kind of private embarrassment people feel alone in their rooms at night when his skirt rides all the way up.

Slutty-fake-Lance was apparently not wearing any underwear. Lance bit his lip, hard, as his skirt folded up and presented a hard, leaking erection pressed up against Keith’s naked abdomen.

To his relief Keith gives a deep breathy groan as he looks down and lifts Lance higher so that the head of his cock drags against the pull of Keith’s skin, they both moan in tandem.

Keith pants, “I’ve wanted this.”  
  
Lance fidgets, the fog of lust clouding his thoughts, “Even after me like yelling at you all those times?”  
  
Keith laughs and kisses him on the cheek, it’s suddenly far too sweet for that moment of Lance being debauched, “You just don’t know…”  
  
Lance was ready to interrogate this version of Keith when Keith pressed another probing kiss onto his mouth. Lance lets him in.

He’s getting lost in kissing and drying humping Keith’s stomach when Keith holds him a little farther away, “I can’t hold back…”

Lance raises his eyebrow at the script line of a questionable porno but his mind is distracted by Keith slipping off his gym shorts to reveal naked hips and toned thighs. Lance found a new need to run his hands down every inch of his sunset skin and find a way to lick long strips down his thighs.

Some part of him had the decency to not imagine  _all_ of Keith, but Lance tosses his head back when he _feels_ a brief nudge of something hard at the rim of his entrance.

“OhGodyes.” He says it one word and Keith is rubbing his length across Lance’s hole, “OhGodyes.”  
  
Lance’s eyes are screwed shut, the TV is a ruckus of cheering Nascar fans as the cars engines roar like cat purrs.

“Lance,” Keith pants, “Lance, _Lance_ ,” He was saying his name like a sermon to zealous Quakers and he can feel the very tip of his cock pushing its way in….

Lance’s eyes fly open.

His heart is pounding in his chest and sweaty mess of sheets surround him like a criss-crossing spider’s web. His eyes flick back and forth as if he expected the police or his mother to be there shaking their heads at him and holding up the handcuffs.

He lies back down in relief when he was alone in his cramped apartment. Lance gives one big sigh before glancing down at his painfully hard erection sticking out the top of his pajamas.

Lance scowls down at it, “You have a lot of explaining to do…” His cock just lies there in a weeping mess and doesn’t respond. He gives another heaving sigh and kicks his striped pants off in one fluid motion.

He reasoned with himself: people touched themselves in the private cocoon of their homes all the time. Even if they were rivals that Lance regularly threatened, and someone who could barely talk to him without glaring- or whatever the hell Keith was doing with his face.

  
Lance just had some feelings to work out.

He tells himself this is him working them out when he turns over on his side and takes his warm cock in hand, it’s heavy and burning in his grasp and he screws his eyes shut and pumps himself up and down.

It’s not quite the same, the loose environment of a dream had made him feel less guilty and like he wasn’t touching himself for the first time. He reaches for his bedside table, “You’re just masturbating dude…It’s fine.” He tries to be reasonable.

He takes out the blue bottle of lube and attempts to think about faceless girls off magazine covers or maybe Ryan Reynolds at his most romantic. The dream, however, comes back in full force as he's working himself over in quick time: sweaty, aloof, confident Keith in his vision.

“Ugh, Keith, yes.” He plays the fantasy out behind his eyes: lithe hands pressing into him and steady breaths panting in his ear as he rubbed up against him. Touching him, saying rasping nonsense words into his ear and straddling his waist. Lance reaches down and pushes one lubed finger inside himself and lets out a satisfied groan. “Yes, yes, yes.”  
  
He fingers himself quickly and runs the rough pad of his thumb over the head of his cock, Keith is whispering about how good he was in his ear. That he never wanted any other rival.

Lance feels the familiar tight feeling bubble up inside him, the fantasy becomes a blurry hot soup as his insides coil and he presses a second finger inside himself.

“Ah!” Pleasure cranked its way through his body as he arched off the bed. His mind a blank canvas of Keith and _damn,_ and _hot damn_ all over the place.

He cums with a brief cry and a series of aftershocks that surprised even him. Lance comes down with the same sense of pleasure and panic all over again.

His eyes go wide and he stares at the ceiling, he suddenly had far too much in common with his cat. He looks down at his sticky hand and softening length. He had really just done that.

His brain races, _and it had been really really hot._

He rolls out of bed and throws his lightly soiled sheets into the laundry basket immediately. He walks around in angry circles to figure out what to do and then resigns himself to curling up on the couch and watching Cosmos, it was a Saturday, but at what cost.

He briefly imagines Keith curling up next to him on the sofa, looking confused and little lost and softly awkward, he’d kiss his neck saying that it had been a good time. A really good time.

Lance takes a deep breath through his nose as he thinks about this Keith, _Shit._

_He was in trouble._


	6. Shatt

Keith felt his phone buzz in his pocket, the sky was a steady gray overhead and his shoes slip over the slick fake-grass as he goes off path. He tries to ignore the third vibration against his leg and force himself to walk a little faster.

He sees the top of the white obelisk come into view and flicks his phone of out of his pocket.

 _‘I’m there i’m there,_ ’ Keith types quickly so Shiro would stop sending him texts questioning his ability to find places or maintain a ‘future’ or listen to the voice in his head that just said anything other than ‘fuck this. Don’t go.’

Keith manages to reach the obelisk’s front door, he has to fumble through three different pockets before he finds his ID picture where his mouth was slightly open and eyes blurry. Not a great picture.

The security guard nods at him, “Good morning son.” He says easily and Keith smothers the ‘fuck this morning in its bed’ in his throat. Shiro was texting him like the watchful eye of a secret police from a small fascist country: you’re not sure where they are, but you feel them.

_Shiro: Say hi to allura for me! :)_

**me: no.**

_Shiro: :(_

**Me: ugh, fine, yes, I’ll feed her rats for you too.**

_Shiro: I’ll bring you guys some coffee when my shift is over._

**Me: honestly, I don’t think I’ll be here that long.**

_Shiro: (......)_

Keith isn’t sure he’s seen disappointed typing dots before, but those could only be described as disappointed typing dots. It wanted the guilt to sink in.

Keith was waiting for more of Shiro’s lecture when the security guard finished swiping Keith in and he starts to walk.

Every Voltron student was supposed to spend ten hours a week at an internship with the program: the labs, the field, the workshops, etcetera.

Keith had been originally assigned to the field and helped prep astronauts or collect samples, but it turned out never showing up or wandering off while out on the job was ‘frowned upon’ and ‘goddamnit Keith.’

Marshal Graham said he would assign him to intern for the colony sanitation team if he didn’t get it together, but Shiro pulled a few strings and Keith was given a ‘second chance’ in the labs.

He had done 2 hours so far for the thirty he was supposed to do in the last three weeks. It was Friday.

Keith walked down the sterile bright hallways made in the uncomfortable shape of a hexagon and toward the basement where the biology labs were. He puts his phone on silent, Shiro could just know he that was doing this already.

He searches the floor for a little while until he is able to track down the large white door that he was assigned to: 002. It may have been a while.

He fumbles with the clipboard on the plastic mailbox on the outside, he checks which technicians were in that day and then signs in. It was just the two of them.

He knocks loudly for a moment, it echoes off the walls and then he lets himself in. It’s a spacious room, no windows and with rows of long narrow tables with bleached surfaces covered in high-powered microscopes and various vials and instruments.

Keith looks around until he sees the tall back of a woman with her waves of white hair tied up into a bun. She checks over her shoulder quickly, and they nod.

“Keith,” Allura says warmly but with a hint of bemusement, “Good to see you, Shiro said you might be coming by.” She raises her eyebrows, “Wash up.”  
  
His eyes dart back down to where she was stooping over an open cage of scurrying animals and then looks back over to the sinks, and back to the open cages next to little skeleton structures. Keith forces himself to go thoroughly scrub his hands pink and try to count ceiling tiles.

It was going to be a long day.

Allura kept her back to him as he shuffled over weakly, Allura was friendly and likable, but Keith always had the feeling she didn’t like _him_ much. Shiro said it was because she wasn’t as fond of aliens, which didn’t make sense she was the Altean representative sent to give oversight to the fledgling human colony. She was surrounded by aliens.

Maybe Shiro was running out of explanations.

Keith walked up to her after standing behind the Altean for a minute that felt bridging on ‘creepy’ and spied a little view of mice running around an atrium.

Keith watched her neck, finally clearing his throat, “What are we doing today, uh,” Doctor? Professor?, “Princess?” He offers instead questioningly.

Allura turns to him with a slight smile, “We are still studying mammals reaction to life in artificial gravity and outside of earth atmosphere,” Allura frowns, “We still think the radiation is hurting their nervous systems more than necessary.” She explains simply and watches the mice climb up a tube.

Keith blinks. “We are watching mice.”  
  
Allura nods, “Pick up a clipboard. You’re lucky,” She smooths back an imaginary hair back into place, “We were doing the cows yesterday.”

Keith hums and picks up the intern clipboard that asked how much the mice were eating and defecating. This was why he was twenty-eight hours behind on this job.

Allura tipped-tapped on her clipboard and turned up the radio, it was playing a metallic tune that Keith hoped was alien country and not the worst edm he ever heard- he couldn’t stomach his own species making that.

They make the mice do various exercises to see if their reflexes were up to their normal timing, or if they needed more radiation precautions for future generations.

Allura was mostly quiet and Keith’s eyes chewed into the back of the wall clock, debating if he should just let himself be space-exiled instead of jump through all the colony bureaucrats hoops.

The minutes tick by like swimming through oatmeal, and the ventilation blasts, making it cold enough to freeze yogurt. He finds himself only two hours in.

Allura hummed along with the music and made an ‘ooh’ when one of the mice washed it’s little face and then yawned, she smiled, “Very good, they are doing even better than the cows.” She wrote down a second set of data and Keith kneaded at his blurry eyes. “You should have been there,” Allura kept going, “One of the cadets got scolded for trying to ride one.”  
  
Keith snorts and shakes his head, “And _I’m_ the one that almost got assigned to sanitation.” He grumbles to himself

Allura chuckles, “I think he was? Lance.” She grins, “One of your classmates.”  
  
Keith’s eyebrows leap up, “That sounds like him,” Keith leans on the table with interest and hunches over, “Why would you ride a cow?”  
  
Allura was smiling and Keith hoped she was perhaps warming slightly up to him, at least for the sake of passing the next eight hours.

Allura turns to him languidly, “The claim was to check her reaction time.”  
  
“Was he alright? I mean,” Keith smooths his hair back quickly, “Was, she, the cow alright?” He backtracks.  
  
Allura laughs lightly, “Well, I’ll start from the beginning, I think the cow was supposed to be pregnant by now but your classmate said you shouldn’t pressure her, which wouldn’t be so bad, but a female student said…”  
  
Keith finally feels a little warmer in his chest as Allura tells him a story about Lance and his quest to make sure the cow was still qualified to the breeding instead of the food provision program. Keith managed to chuckle and not think about Lance’s face over and over again. And again.

He starts in for his next story, “That’s not as bad,” He says when she finishes, “I know him too, and he showed up at my door on weeknight trying to communicate with our cats…” He starts to talk about Lance McClain.

\---------------

Around four hours pass and Allura is mixing a simple sugar water and rad-away (a chemical compound that checked back against radiation poisoning) in a little beaker.

“Anyway, he works at this gym and I saw him mix his redbull and mountain dew and try to drink it all at once, or it looked like, and then he was chugging it and his coworker slapped him on the back.”  
  
“Uh-huh.”  
  
“And he spit it up all over the desk! One of the professors, Rodrick, came up at that exact moment,” Keith was smiling, he shouldn’t be grinning so much, “And Lance just gave her a thumbs up. Covered in some sort of green soda mix and all I could do was stand there.”  
  
Allura’s mouth twitched up, “What were _you_ doing there?”  
  
Keith sniffs lamely, “I need to work out.” Regularly, at that specific gym, all the time, in the lobby in the corner or you know, just outside the door. It was a work in progress. “Anyway, the desk is now dripping in whatever sticky soda, and he leans into it. Leans. You think cow riding was bad.” Keith shakes his head, “He’s leaning in the drink and I watch him try to smile and he goes to give her her pass back, and she doesn’t even take it.”

Allura nodded shallowly, “Understandable.”

“Yeah! Anyway, I went to go see hi- go work on my hamstrings the next day and Mountain Dews were taken out of the soda machines. He looked kind of depressed.” Keith mumbles as he thinks and the mice run around their track, he looks up at the ceiling, “He normally brings Blue in and that’s when Red comes home, but-”  
  
“Keith,” Allura says steadily and Keith looks up as Allura finishes getting her eye-dropper out, “Is this a Shiro and Matt thing?” She asks fixedly.

Keith makes a face and then backs up, “What thing?”  
  
Allura shakes her head, “because I’ve been trying to get those two to stop bringing each other back radiated space rocks for months now.”  
  
Keith raises his eyebrows, “Ooooh, you mean like Shatt. Yeah.”  
  
It was Allura’s turn to make a face, “What?”  
  
“Shatt,” Keith says again, “Shiro and Matt, I deleted my snapchat after their last mission.” He says absently, “They kept sending snaps of each other reenacting Sleepless in Seattle.” It was awful, Keith eyes her, “I didn’t think anyone else noticed beside me.”  
  
“Noticed?” Allura snorts, “I’m an alien, and they have matching ‘science, fuck yeah’ mugs in the common area. I can’t do anything with them, they held up transit for thirty minutes yesterday.”  
  
Keith nods solemnly, “Shatt. Don’t worry princess, you aren’t alone.”  
  
“Please don’t call it that,” Allura was massaging the bridge of her nose, “I can only handle so much-”  
  
“Shatt really isn’t a problem Princess,” Keith says instead, “His sister, I think you work with Pidge, right? She says Matt would be a lot worse if anything actually happened between them.”

Allura shakes her head, “as I was saying, it ruined my last skype meeting.” Keith snickers and Allura offers him one of the eye droplets to dap in the mice’s food pellets. “So I don’t want to see more,” Allura clears her throat and cringes, “Shatt.”  
  
Keith shrugs, “I mean, there’s only two of them, I don’t see how they’ll be more unless Professor Gladd finishes a cloning machine for the mice.”

Allura shakes her head and snaps her gloves in irritation, “Keith. You just spent the last four hours talking to me about cadet McClain and-”  
  
“His cat is dating mine.” Keith interrupts quickly, “It’s really not….strange.”  
  
“It’s a little strange.”

“Earth animals, uh,” He glances around, how much could he lie about earth animals to an alien? “Need that?”  
  
Allura shakes her head and turns around, “It’s almost closing time, but I have another assignment for you.”  
  
Keith blinks a couple times, “I have, uh, busy.” He tries to wiggle away from whatever this new assignment was.

Allura peeled off a pair of rubber gloves and knelt down, “You need to catch up in internship hours, right?” She asks as she rifles around in a box.

Keith raises an eyebrow, “I’ve been behind worse.”  
  
Allura sighs, “I can imagine. But I have something you can do over the weekend, I’ll fill in the hours for you to the Garrison myself.”

Keith could have verbally groaned, “I don’t know-”  
  
Allura stands up quickly and holds out a old-fashioned disc, “It’s three hours long.”  
  
Keith blinks a couple times and looks down at the blue sheen, “So…?”

Allura reaches for her shoulder bag, “You and cadet McClain can write down the important parts of the film to give to me. It’s the update video about the bacteria numbers over the scope of Voltron from the last scan, for the life of me I haven’t been able to get through it.” She gives him a smile he Does Not Like, “I figure a biology technician and a sanitation intern should look it over.”  
  
Keith stiffens, this did not go along with his 22 month (or year, depending) plan on saying something interesting to Lance McClain after a casual and random encounter at some point.

Allura readjusts her bunched up shirt sleeves, “Come on. I’ll tell Hunk to tell McClain soon.” She turns to wash down the desk, “And then I heard Shiro would buy us some coffee.”  
  
Keith stares at the disc blankly and tries to process this, he glances at the wall clock.

He turns his back, “I can watch it myself.” He says quickly, “Lan- Cadet McClain and I fight all the time anyway.”  
  
“Even after the bandage incident?” He curses himself his own boredom for complaining at Allura for several hours now. Allura shrugs and turns to the door, gesturing for him to follow, “Honestly, I would love for him to stop asking me about what my star sign is.” She was smiling, Keith was not.

“I don’t think-”  
  
Allura nudge him out of the room, “No more Shatt!” She laughs lightly, “And someone has to watch that bacteria video.”  
  
Keith followed her dumbly out the door, he glances back down at the messages on his phone.

_Shiro: I heard you spent all ten hrs there? Great job :)_

**Me: Allura is evil**

_Shiro: what? Not you too, Matt was saying the same thing after this video_

Keith shoves his phone back in his pocket and simmers as Allura asks him about how many packs of sugar were too many. She said at 25, but Coran told her she was going to lose feeling in her fingertips if she kept that up.

Keith just shakes his head and shoves the disc she gave him deeper into his pocket.

\------------------------

_BRAAAAAANK BRIIIIINK_

Keith’s smoke detector made the noise of an e-sharp. His eggs were burning.

It was Sunday night, and he didn’t have anything left in his cabinets but questionable eggs and ketchup, and it smelled like one of those was burning.

_Bryaaaaaaaaaank bryaaaa aaank_

“Dammit, dammit, dammit,” Keith speed-walked from his bathroom and dodged one of his stray fold out chairs and tried not to fall over, “Aaaaah,” He yells back at his smoke alarm as he enters the kitchen.

 _Bryaaaaaaank_  It yells back at him.

“Fuck,” Keith takes his blackened eggs off the stove, dumps them on a dirty plate and shoves the pan under the faucet, he pushes the nozzle on and let’s a sizzling fill the air as the pan let’s out a thick plume of steam.

_Briaaaaaaaa nnk_

“Shut up!” He yells at the silver noise and watches the pan cool down.

His stomach grumbles, Keith glances at his charred eggs and sighs. They were stiff and brown and mocking him.  “Red!” He calls out. “Red, I have your favorite.” The eggs sit sadly on top of his counter and he searches his apartment, “Red…”  
  
He glances at his phone as he realizes she wasn’t here yet, 10:28. Keith curses, that was way too late for her.

Keith puts his terrible black eggs in a baggy and yanks on his jacket, shoving on his shoes and making a beeline for the alley.

“Red,” he calls, “We have class in the morning.” Well, he did, the ones he may or may not go to.

Keith didn’t want to check every nook and cranny for his cat after a weekend of finishing late assignments (reluctantly) and trying to watch a bacterial movie that he never even got a second through.

He skips the usual places and makes his way across the street and up and to the nearby apartment staircase, he figured he knew where she got off to. “We don’t have time for this…” He walks up the last couple steps to the second level. Sure enough, a pile of thick orange fur sat in front of one of the doors.

“Mrrreow.” His big lovely fat cat outside of Lance’s apartment on a Sunday night with her head tilted up, “Mrrrrrrow!”

Keith shakes his head, “Psst, dummy, it’s almost eleven, come back here.”

Red’s large yellow eyes turn toward him, she looks at him blankly like a stranger interfering her regularly scheduled hours of business.

Keith sighs and gets back up to creep over to his cat who just twitched her tail at him, “I swear.”  
  
“RRRRoew.” She rumbles.

“Sshhh,” Keith bends down and grabs her under the arms before she can leap away.

“RRRRRRWWOW.” She called out like she was being kidnapped and wiggled in his arms as he lifts her up.

“Red!” Keith hissed back and he hears the knob in front of him jostle.

“Okay girl, I have some leftover tuna, but you have to promise after this you’ll go home…” A boy in a loose blue shirt stands at the entrance and trails off as he finds Keith holding his cat in the cool night air in front of his apartment.

“Uh,” Lance blinks up and Keith wonders why his face flushes slightly. “Keith.”

Keith glances around and then back to him, “I came for my cat.” He says blankly and Lance nods back at him.

“That’s good. It is passed curfew.” Lance says back weakly, like they were uncomfortable coworkers on their first shift together.

They both stare at one another and Keith kind of wishes he was dead. He examines Lance’s billowy blue shirt that folded across his slim body and revealed an uneven amount of collarbone. A shirt over what appeared to be a pair of short surf shorts that Keith’s catholic middle school (foster family four) would have said were ‘not in regulation.’

Keith shifted from foot to foot and looked back down to his cat, she looked at him steadily as if to call him a wussy with her eyes. Keith cleared his throat, “Did you hear about Allura?” He asks suddenly, the words pouring out as his thoughts leap-frogged around and apparently ran into each other and sped out of his lips.

Lance blinks at him, “Heard what? She okay?”  
  
Keith lets Red leap on top of his shoulders and reaches for the disc in his pocket, which he would _never_ answer anyone if they asked him why he was carrying it around. “She said Hunk would tell you…”  
  
Lance tilted his head to the side, “About his last food poisoning? Because yeah, that’s all I heard about all this weekend, but I think he’s getting better.”

Keith holds up the disc, “It’s, I mean, Shatt.”  
  
“I mean, yeah, it is-”  
  
“No!” Keith says quickly, stumbling over those thoughts again, “Allura wanted us to watch this video.”

Lance’s mouth fell open as his eyes drag down, “It isn’t nascar is it?”  
  
“What?” Keith asks with a new found confusion.  
  
“What?” Lance says back, his voice cracking.  
  
Keith thinks about turning around and letting Red live there from now on, when Red jumped off his shoulders and prowled back into Lance’s house, Keith sees Blue jump down from a couch.

He takes a deep breath, “It’s for the lab. Allura wanted some interns to take notes on it for her.”

Lance blinks for a moment and Keith isn’t sure if he’s going to do anything, Lance steps aside, “Okay. I have tunafish and popcorn, I guess that works for a movie night.”  
  
“You’ll get internship hours and everything.” Keith says, his the tension in his shoulder’s releasing. “It’s just three hours.”  
  
Lance nods and looks away, “Okay. Okay, yeah, I can get behind that. I was just done with my chem homework anyway.”

Keith grins a secret smile at the back of Lance’s neck, he follows him in.  
  
They both enter Lance’s apartment, Red in the lead, and Keith wonders why it all felt like they were dancing around pinpricks and why he was still going to be twenty-twenty hours behind after this.

He bends down toward Lance’s projector to put the disc in. He hesitates as he hears Lance fumble around in the kitchen and Keith pauses, he doesn’t know what he’s doing.

After a minute or so he feels his phone buzz, it was from Shiro, but instead of advice or a reminder, it was a text about something funny Matt said. Keith forces himself to put the video disc in, Lance finishes making popcorn.


	7. A Cat in Mittens Catches no Mice

Lance sat with a pillow clutched to his chest, huddling in the far corner of the couch, the farthest away from Keith as he could get.

_Does he smell it on me?_

Lance was still trying to get over himself, his own brain, and his new sexual association with nascar. Hot Heels was never going to feel normal again.

“The number of bacteria on Voltron is stable, but there several focus areas of the underground with particular interest, I will start with sewage entrance number 86b.”

The film was still playing, it was quite possibly the worst CGI he’d ever seen with the added bonus of being the most mind-numbing topic he could think of.

Keith scratches his neck and Lance jams some more popcorn into his mouth and chews until he reaches a hard kernel and then keeps chewing.

An animated count of the projected growth rate of the specific type of oxygenated bacteria came on screen. It reminded him of the terrible CNN 3D models they used on the morning news; his mom always kept it on in order to yell at the newscasters. That they were too unfair, too frivolous, that it was CNN. His sister and him made fun of the dramatic camera angles and sometimes would mute it and make up what the newscasters were saying. Anderson Cooper, the backdrop to his childhood.

He distinctly remembered Rachel Maddow coming on and his mom turned to him one morning, a rag tossed over her shoulder and the glow of sun on her cheek. “Rachel Maddow, she’s gay you know.”

He didn’t know who she was talking to, or if she was being dismissive. It was as if it was such an unflinching fact that she had to share it out loud, too factual to ever be kept to itself. That was his families version of having the talk, ‘Rachel Maddow is gay.’ That was the limits of health education on the topic.

Lance’s eyes glaze over as he remembers his mom’s broad shoulders and curly hair tied back so she could see the world and it could damn well see her back. He remembered her throwing the rag on her shoulder at Wolf Blitzer. He gets a little misty eyed.

Lance sighs, he only comes to when he sees Keith staring at him. Lance sits upright and blinks a couple times, “Some movie huh?” His voice cracks.

Keith frowns slightly, “I hope that's a joke, otherwise I'm going to be very concerned.”

Lance rolls his eyes and is able to relax his shoulders, “Bacterial disease management and artificial micro-counts is my passion. I thought you knew.”

Keith snorts, “okay, sarcasm, definitely a step up.”

Lance winks and chews more popcorn, in actual manageable bites this time. He turns to Keith again, “There are so many better movies we could be watching right now, Step Up being one of them.”

Keith shakes his head, “I’m behind on my intern hours, but,” Keith pauses, looking up and away, “I would if we could.”

Lance tucks his chin down and peers upward, “What kind of movies do you like?” Lance felt like a five-year old asking for graham crackers instead of someone with the capacity to flirt.

Keith shrugs blankly and reaches for the popcorn, “I don’t mind Battlestar Galactica.”

“Noooo,” Lance stores that away, prime teasing material.

“Dune.”

“Keith, buddy”

“Starship Troopers.”

“Is that why you’re out here? To live a sci-fi wet dream? Because, I’ll tell you I haven’t destroyed one bug alien that are metaphors for colonization yet,” Lance frowns, “Which is probably a good thing.”

Lance first internally hits himself over the head for saying the words ‘wet dream’ out loud (he has one filter and it’s called a bunch of stones in a test tube). However, Keith laughs, his eyes crinkling and frankly, there are good things in the world despite contradicting data. Really good things.

“No,” Keith shakes his head, “I came out here because...there was something out here for me.”

Lance raises his eyebrows, “Like what?” He asks quietly, the bacteria man on TV tells them that sector 4b was a powder keg if they didn’t start rinsing their recycling properly.

Keith’s brow furrows, deep and steady like a hedge folding into itself during an earthquake. Keith looks over to the window, “I dunno.” He finally says, “Space I guess.” He says blankly and Lance blows air out of his nose.

“No.” He makes an ‘o’ face, “Really?” He says sardonically.

“Don’t be an asshole,” Keith chides.

Lance elbows him gently, migrating a little closer to him on the couch, “I’m just messing with you. I thought you were about to get all deep on me like a punk emo indie band, but I suppose looks can be deceiving.”

Keith gives him an amused look, if not a little exasperated. “I aim for more of a gothic screamo.”

Lance snickers and covers his mouth, “He can joke!”

“I’m completely serious.”

Lance laughs again, “Okay, well I’m a romantic indie band that’s never heard of a hairbrush or an authority figure they like.”

Keith tilted his head to the side and reaches out, Lance freezes and Keith touches the end of his hair, “But your hair is so short.”

Lance gulps dryly and looks everywhere else but at him, “Uh,” He shifts side to side, Keith’s light touch is ghosting over the ends of his hair, “Guess I can’t be a hipster indie band after all. You got me.” He says feebly and looks away, “I guess I’ll have to settle for romantic bingo-night bluegrass.”

Lance glances back to see Keith smile softly, he had retracted his hand.

“So,” Keith leans back on the couch, “Why are _you_ out here?”

Lance looks away, studying his hands for a moment before turning back with a cheeky grin, “Honor. Redemption. So my father doesn’t have to go to war.”

  
Keith makes the face of a puppy in a new part of the house, “What?”

“Disney Keith. Disney. I’ll even sing ‘I’ll Make a Man out of You.’ Right here, here right now, anytime.” Keith sighs gently and Lance leans toward him, nudging him gently, “Don’t tell me you only watch cheesy sci-fi flicks.”

“I only watch cheesy sci-fi flicks.”

Lance laughs again, “I love how everything you say could be the same tone as my funeral eulogy.”

Keith stretched his neck back and Lance’s eyes are drawn to the angle of his Adam's apple. Lance remembers to listen to him talking, “honestly, I’d be honored to do your funeral eulogy if that's what you're asking.”

Lance puts his chin on his hand, “Oh man, well, coming soon to a graveyard near you, if Graham sees me ride another cow I’m toast. Or fail a test. Or crash the simulator again.”

Keith popped another popcorn in his mouth, “and they call me a trouble maker.”

Lance wrinkles his nose, “It’s not like I mean to do all that junk though.”

They go quiet for a moment, he listens to Keith crunch on the last of the kernels. He closes his eyes to the noise of the recommended temperatures of the fifth quarter to maintain healthy micro-organism life. They both exhale.

“Well,” Keith said something softly, he was looking Lance up and down, Lance fidgets with the end of his loose shirt, “I don't think any of these hoops they make us jump through really matter. You’re doing a damn better job than most of us.”

Lance’s face heats up like an oncoming tidal wave, his hands clench around the end of his shirt, he holds his breath until his mouth kicks in. “Uh, is that a compliment? Because I think I would like a signed copy to send to job interviews.”

Keith swings his leg over and kicks his ankle, “Of course it was a compliment.” He says openly, like social cues were a mere suggestion and Lance’s method of joke, deny, accidently have wet dreams about you was fake. And gay.

Lance smiles, “Keith Kogane, signed at the bottom, thinks I’m an alright dude. Nice.”

Keith blinks again, “You bandaged my wound. I wouldn't think anything else.”

They sit in another silence like a long piece of string being pulled tightly across a gulf.

Lance takes a deep breath in, and then out, his words had was empty. The seconds pass as the discussion of microbes drones in the backward.

Lance studies Keith's Adam's apple again. Obtuse, ready to be traced by curious hands.

_Scrtch-scrtch-schrt_

Lance jumps when he hears the walls creak and little scratching noises, “Did you hear that?”

The walls scritch briefly but Keith just looks up curiously, “No. Hear what?”

Lance’s eyes glide around into the dark corners of the room, “it’s probably just the cats doing nonsense.”

_Scrtch-schtr_

He hears another round of little irking noises but they subside and he lets himself slump down again, Keith was still watching him, “At least they can’t get pregnant.”

Lance snickers and watches as the narrator sums up his findings on micro-organisms on the sprawling space colony satellite.

“I can’t believe your mind goes to that first,” Lance says teasingly as the credits begin to roll, “pregnancy talk, for shame.”

Keith gives him the same frank look, “And here I thought you were the type to give your ‘daughter’ the talk already.”

“We are a strictly Catholic household...Cat-holic.” Keith groans up at the ceiling and Lance keeps pushing, “She is without exception holding hands with Red right now.”

Keith gives him a sly smile, “If you say so.”

Lance’s cheeks heat up and he wishes he was a goddamn Cat-holic in the real sense.

The film fades to black and they both stare blankly ahead of them, Lance finally rubs his neck. “Did you catch any of that?”

Keith shrugs, “I don’t think I’d want to.”

Lance rolls his eyes and reaches for a pad of paper, “We need to tell her something.”

Keith reaches over too and peers over his sheet of paper, “Some bacteria is good, some are bad. Consider washing your hands now and then.”

Lance raises his eyebrows, “Brilliant, doctor. We’re ready for the operation.”

  
Keith puts his chin in his hands, “you got a better idea?”

Lance taps his chin before starting to draw, “Flesh eating bacteria on the loose, all hope is lost, consuming my liver, taken over my daughter, aaaaaah.” He draws a monstrous bacteria destroying a city, Keith is laughing again. It’s 2 in the morning.

“What’s that?”

“Drama, Keith! The world loves drama.”

Keith covers his mouth and leans forward, “I can tell. It explains you.”

Lance sniffs and sticks his chest out, “of course, the world loves me.”

Keith’s eyes flick up, they share a brief eye contact. Keith clears his throat, “I see. All those phone numbers you get could build bird nests I’m sure.”

Lance sticks his bottom lip out, “Better than having one on my head.”

Keith reaches for Lance’s pad of paper and they bicker lightly and fight over the hand-writing for a little longer. It turned out they both had atrocious handwriting, but Keith’s spelling was a little better.

They parce together an acceptable report that Keith signs, ‘ **this was incredibly boring, I’m making you go on vacation with Shiro and Matt when one of them just passed a test. They hold hands then, ‘platonically’.** ’

Lance frowns as he reads that, “What’s that about?”

Keith shrugs, “Long story… Two people who are hopeless in the bad way.”

Lance scratches his lip slowly and then twists away, “Um, want anymore popcorn? I think there are a few burnt ones and some butter left.”

  
Keith places the pad of paper down, “I’ve got some burnt eggs to give Red and a bed at home.” Keith wasn’t looking at him, “it’s pretty late.”

Lance looks him up and down, “The patrol might catch you. It’s super past curfew my dude, more than usual.”

Keith gets up and stretched, cracking his back twice, “Never stopped me before.”

“Ooh,” Lance leans forward, “We’ve got ourselves a badass here.”

Keith gives what Lance would only classify as a ‘wink,’ “Yeah.” The other boy says and Lance feels a burning hatred for existence, and a lot of things that aren’t hatred, at that moment.

They get back up and Keith goes to find his very sleepy cat and Blue curled up by the furnace in Lance’s room.

Lance follows him closely, making sure he doesn’t sense anything or start rifling through Lance’s stuff for spare knives or something (the kid liked knives).

They fumble around the apartment until they make their way to the front door.

They stand at the entranceway staring at each other at three in the morning.

Lance sniffs, “Good seeing you.” Good seeing you, thanks for the movie grandma, come again soon. The phrase stuck in his throat.

Keith nods and leans on the door frame, “I’ll see you at the gym.”

“And class,” Lance pipes up.

Keith turns to leave, “Maybe.”

Lance rolled his eyes, “A badass here.”

Keith waves, “You said it, not me.”

Lance sticks his tongue out and Keith laughs as he slips off into the night with flat stares, and weird movies, and problems with authority.

He goes back into his house and buries his face in a pillow and makes gurgling noises. _Don’t be attracted to your rival,_ he could write a novel about it.


	8. Downpour

Keith stands outside of the gym with his duffel bag slung over his shoulders and a cramp in his leg where he attempted vertical jumps one too many times.

The sky was as gray as cast iron and clouds spill over into a steady downpour that crowded the streets like a curtain.

The roads are empty and Keith felt like he had wandered into a ghost town. Voltron’s rainfall was scheduled and procedural, it was an efficient way of cleaning the satellite colony. Updates of when the weekly spray-down would be were posted in the city newsletter, too bad Keith neither opened his email or followed procedures very well.

He spent the last couple days on a high from turning in Allura’s report, mostly the process of writing that report, but was now unhappily stuck under the roof of the gym feeling a little foolish.

He had gone to the faraway rec-center, the one not-at-all-close but had a front desk worker that did doodles on the sandwich boards and pen tricks for his co-workers.

Keith didn’t need a new hobby, but spying on Lance every now and then sort of boosted his morale in ways he didn't want to analyze.

He passed him in a heart fluttering moment and then snuck into the lobby without being spotted. He proceeded to go to the basketball court and sweat off any thoughts, feelings, or 'flutterings' he might have had.

He finished off by managing to pound a punching bag pretty thoroughly and drink a protein shake without feeling like a tool (Lance was also on lunch break at the time and he got to see him part 2, fluttering the sequel).

He snuck back out of the locker room after that, passing by a crowd as Lance was doing something at the desk and waving.

It had been a pretty successful Tuesday afternoon, that is, up until he walked outside and found himself walled off by a threatening flood of water. Of course.

He was frowning at his phone, looking at the time and hoping Shiro responded to his text for a ride soon. He hoped he wasn't already at Allura’s and doing the ‘no phone touching until lunch is over’ thing.

 _Sssshhhhh_ The rain pours down in a silver cascade.

Keith slumped over, he three more hours. He squinted off into the storm and thought about how he needed to feed Red, put his bike inside, take two and a half warm showers with soap. He takes a deep breath and prepares himself for a soggy run, it wouldn’t be the first time.

He’s trying to calculate the most efficient dash and hide route before he hears the soft release of the sliding of the doors behind him.

“See you guys tomorrow!”

Keith freezes, his back snaps straight like an unfolding ironing board as the soft sound of feet came up behind him. He looks over his shoulder stiffly and sees a familiar head of straightened brown hair and a sharp smile that went in every direction.

Keith clenches and unclenches his hands, he watches Lance turn around and his eyes go wide as he faces the thick sheet of rain, “Shit.” The boy says as he reaches for his neck.

Keith shifts from foot to foot, he had his hood up and back turned to Lance, he could just leave. But maybe Lance had an umbrella, maybe they would walk under it, and after all, they weren’t strangers anymore. Lance was making a face at the rain and looking around.

Keith crept up, trying to figure out how to place his feet and coordinate where to keep his eyes, Lance was still grumbling and looking down at the clock on his phone. “Shit.”  
  
Keith watches Lance’s brow furrow in a nice arch, Keith clears his throat, keeping his eyes precisely just above Lance’s head, the other boy turns around quickly. Keith has to swallow dryly as the other boy’s eyes light up and mouth arched up.

“Keith!” Lance put his hands on his hips, “Oh yeah, Shelley said she saw you today.”  
  
Keith’s eyes go a little wider, that wasn’t what he was expecting. He shuffles forward, “Uh, yeah, I needed to, yeah.” Keith blinks, _did he know a Shelley?_  
  
Lance seemed unphased, he looked around, “You wouldn’t happen to have an umbrella would you?”

Keith snorts and looks Lance up and down, “I was hoping you would.”  
  
Lance shakes his head, still smiling, “Don’t tell me _both_ of us are astronaut interns who can't prepare for basic weather. I'm disappointed.”  
  
Keith snorts and looks away, “They couldn’t pay me to read through those newsletter emails.”  
  
Lance wrinkles his nose, “They’re usually only a couple paragraphs dude. And a calendar.” Lance winks, “I open them to know when speed-dating nights are.”  
  
Keith grins, “Where’s your umbrella then?”

Lance puts his finger up, “Touche.”

Keith pauses as his thoughts catch up, _speed-dating._

Lance peers up at the cloud cover and sighs, “You have a strategy of getting home?”  
  
Keith scuffed his shoe on the sidewalk, “tactical surrender and getting wet.”  
  
Lance snickers, “Sounds unpleasant,” he turns toward him with a mischievous grin and looks Keith up and down, “You wanna race?”

Keith’s mouth fell open, “Are you serious?”

Lance puts his hands in his pockets and leans back, his shirt was a crumpled black uniform and black jeans that slumped down around the hips. Lance’s eyes crinkled at the edges, “Yeah,” He widens his stance, “Don’t think I’ll go easy on you.”

A flicker of competitive light sparks in his chest, Keith hoists his bag higher on his shoulder and digs his tennis shoes in, “I don't think you know what you're getting into."

"Fighting words!" Lance crows.

Keith grins, "Yeah."

Lance threw his arms in the air, “Okay,” He turns swiftly and Keith scowls, “Go!” He was off.

Keith was still taken by surprise, Lance already sprung with his long legs pumping recklessly into the torrents of rain, “Ah!” He yelps and Keith laughs with a little coiling feeling, he doesn’t know his heart pounds at the other boy's wild streak in the street.

Keith wasn’t going to be one-upped though and dashes after him with his resolve to win, he chased Lance’s heels, the cold droplets pelted his skin and spread across his hoodie shoulder’s immediately. Undeterred, sweat mixed with the waterfall and he carved out Lance’s back with his eyes.

“Haha!” Lance cackled and made a cheeky wave back at him, Keith clenched his jaw and sped up.

They passed a bike station and more intelligent people who were indoors and glancing out their windows at them, they don’t take cover anywhere and dance around each other like excited dogs at the park.

Keith manages to pass Lance once with a triumphant fist-pump and then Lance nudges him with his elbow and pulls easily ahead again. Keith gave an annoyed grunt as Lance bounced his eyebrows up and down over his shoulder at him and took another a couple strides ahead.

Lance was obviously built like a track star, long legs and sinewy thighs that drove him forward, Keith was watching the other boys hair plaster to the back of his head and the outline of the wings of his shoulder blades pump in and out as he ran. His black shirt hugged his body and Keith can feel his gym shoes growing clumsy and heavy with water.

They started panting heavily by the third block, Lance’s taunts melting away as they exerted themselves. The fourth block burns but Keith’s back alley comes into view. He rubs the water out of his eyes and finds his last burst of energy.

They come to the street corner and both grinning like idiots at the turn.

Lance slips as he swerves and fumbles forward, Keith nearly barrels him over as he stumbles sideways and Keith grabs onto his shirt to keep him from toppling.

“Watch out,” Keith said, his eyes wide as he glances down at Lance’s long limbs.

Lance recovers quickly, taking Keith’s hands in his like a silly ballroom move. He turns them around in a little twirl, making Keith’s brain do a funny hiccup, Lance turns them around like a pivot and then lets Keith go quickly, pointing him in the opposite direction.

“Ugh!”

“Haha!” Apparently, they had decided to race to Keith’s house in particular, and Keith has to reorient himself and stumble after Lance’s heels again.

“Cheating!”

“Winning!” Lance yanks open the wooden gate and dashes forward into the yard, Keith slips slightly on the slick grass and fumbles after him. He feels the hot burn in his sides making him want to push a little harder, his lungs yell at him.

He chases Lance up the two back steps and then watches him crash into his backdoor with a perilous bang, Keith is unable to dig his feet in and stop himself, he charges unsteadily headlong into Lance.

They bang together like a pair of elk in mating season.

Lance lurches back and forth and Keith reaches out to cling to his side to stop himself from bouncing backward onto the ground. Lance slings an arm around his shoulder and they flounder in motion for a moment before righting themselves.

Keith finds himself pushing them up against the door to keep them upright and Lance is laughing. Keith joins him for a moment, wet hair running down his cheeks and cheeks flushed from the run. He was also very aware of Lance’s vibrating chest and heaving breaths, their slick skin touched and the soggy clothes clung to their backs like a second skin. Keith shivered.

“This was stupid.” Keith said plainly.

Lance ran a hand through his soaked hair and heaved as his nose wrinkled from a blooming grin, Keith was still studying him up and down, unable to get his stiff joints to pull back.

Lance blinks, face glowing red from exertion, “You’re pretty fast.”  
  
Keith blows out a short breath out of his nose, “I guess you’re faster.”  
  
Lance was suddenly looking down at Keith’s arms on either side of him, his blue eyes clear and pupils blown up from adrenaline, “Don’t be too hard on yourself.” Lance says lightly, Keith finally looks up into his face, “I use to do short-distance races.”

“I can tell.” Keith said as his suspicions were confirmed, “Lot’s of medals I would guess.” He says, thinking out loud.

Lance shrugs, but his cheeks were still glowing, “Nah,” Lance shuffled back and forth but didn’t move to change their close quarters, his hip juts out, “You know, nerves.” He says offhandedly.

Keith sprouts a smile, “You didn’t seem nervous to me just now.”  
  
Lance laughs, “Why would I be? Your legs look like short tree stumps.”  
  
Keith’s mouth fell open, “You’ve only got a couple inches on me willow boy.”  
  
Lance's eyes grew soft, he touched his own hands, “And who says I’m not nervous?” He whispered that part like an accidental leak.

Keith’s breath catches in his throat, the world turns in slow motion, he tries to get himself to move, dip him like a romantic novel. HeInstead, he looks up and Lance was biting his lower lip, his pupils still blown up. Keith wets his lip.

“I mean, not that, I mean,” Lance stutters, face glowing and breathless.

Keith leans up, his brain short-circuiting as it searches for the best response, any response, instead his body vibrates with _want_. His mouth opened with the tip of something on his tongue, his eyes flick up and down over Lance, “Good.” He grunts instead. His hands wander up to Lance’s sides and he pushes him more firmly against the door.

Lance makes a soft sound and then Keith lifts his face up, he feels a pair of uncoordinated lips descend against his, they capture him in an urgent searing kiss that mixed with rainwater and a tentative rawness. Keith lurches forward and pulls him down into the kiss.

Lance wraps his arms around his neck and his wiry frame shivers against him, Keith tilts his head and eases the other boy’s mouth open, coaxing his tongue to loosen up and body to melt into him. He melts.

_Sssshhhh_

The rain comes down beside them in a heavy sheet and they kiss with a heat of fireflies under their skin and a newness in every touch. Keith's heart sped as he deepened the embrace until his head spun, maybe their cats had it right all along. 


	9. Inhibitions Got your Tongue

Lance had a couple guesses of what was going on, first of all, he was dreaming again and would soon be in another sexy nurse’s outfit, maybe an angel one, perhaps a slutty race car this time. There were options. A Lightning McQueen thong was on the table.

The second scenario was that he finally had a bad reaction to satellite life and was in the thralls of gay space madness- featuring Keith, and kissing, and his nerves tingling all over like light up fireflies.

The third option was that he was actually somehow plastered up against a wall, soaking wet with his hair dripping into his eyes, a heat radiating up along spine against his slippery sopping jeans. And being kissed.

Also featuring Keith, the rain, and most likely upcoming Space Madness.

It was as brief as a bubblegum pop, a spark as hard and bright as a firework, body pressed firmly up against the ribbed wall, lips traced with a harsh sweetness. A heat surged throughout his body, and then was gone.

It was the type of kiss you give on sinking ships or before you have to sneak back into your mama’s house after hours: urgent, fleeting.

As heady as those four vodka jello shots he took in a row freshman year, before he knew any better; like the first kiss of the first time as the very first boys in the universe.

It was a brief universe.

He wasn’t sure who pulled away first, but it was needy and sloppy before it was empty space, Lance closed his eyes- and then it was over. He exhaled sharply at the loss, a sudden vacuum and pulse in his chest.

He blinks his eyes back open, lifting his chin and looking into the stripped, curious face of Keith Kogane for a long moment.

Keith’s cheeks were flushed a powered pink, chest rising up and down quickly, lip slightly parted but not like they had just been touched but like a memory of a memory hung there. Water clung to his lashes like dew drops on pine needles and his eyes were purple. Deep and purple. Keith rubbed his face and pressed his palms to his eye sockets.

Lance pulls back, pressing his head to the house wall after and forcing his heels firmly to the floor. He told himself it was a slight kiss.

Super slight and not involving a sexy racecar outfit or a blooming painful thump in his chest. Keith was looking down at the ground with his powdered pink cheeks.

They stand there for another long, red moment.

Lance clears his throat, “Well!” His voice cracks.

Keith brushes the water out of his eyes again, they both shift from side to side, “Well.” Keith says as well, lower and slowly. Awkward Lance thinks, _awkward._

He bites his lower lip, he wasn’t great with silences, maybe he wasn’t great with spur of the moment running-rain kisses either. His romantic-horny (romanorny) 13-year old self was definitely disappointed in him.

They stand there with the slow _pit-pit-pit_ of their clothes onto the deck, maybe a little dumbstruck, maybe a little like when you call your teacher ‘mom’ by accident.

 _He’s your rival_. He grits his teeth, _an anitgonistic one_. Lance wants to do it again. Lance just stands there.

He pursed his lips and then finally broke into a tight smile, a flashing one, “Hey,” he finally said, gently and Keith looked up with a distant foggy look his his eye, Lance slicks his hair back, “Just so we’re clear, just for the record,” he says slowly, trying to break the thick air, “I won.”

Keith frowned slightly and raised both eyebrows, “you know, no one likes a cocky winner.” He says dimly and Lance chuckles.

“No one likes a good-at-everything-ace-pilot either,” he tilts his head to the side, “this is your humbling moment Keith, the moment of truth for your memoir.”  
  
Keith snorts and shoves his thumbs in his pockets, “For your record, I’m not good at _everything_ …” Lance was certain Keith didn’t mean for those words to come out as delicate as they did, delicate like wispy clouds.

Lance exhales and steadies himself from this strange weight.

“Okay,” He says equally gently, their eyes meet and some unknown words goes between them. They had know idea what they were doing. Lance leans forward, “you’re right." He grins, "Not good at  _everything_ , for instance, I just beat you at racing.”  
  
Keith rolls his eyes but he was smiling, “jackass.”

“Washout.”

“Fuckboy.”  
  
Lance let out a surprised laugh at that, “Emo punk wannabe!”

“Dork.”

Lance wrinkles his nose, “Someone-who-probably-doesn’t-know-what-primer-is.”

“You got me.” Keith laughed a little, “I’m out.”  
  
Lance snorts and put his hands out, “Really? I have so many more flaws than that, my elementary school teachers are shaking their heads, you’re missing this chance to take shots at me.”

Keith gave a half-smile, he reaches out slowly, as if touch his hair or his cheek, he was looking at his mouth again. They pause, the heartbeat was there.

Keith pulls back slightly again and Lance exhales, _he’s still your rival_. He remembers the white tiny nurse's outfit and gulps.

“You shouldn’t insult your in-laws to their face,” Keith finally says, his dry sense of humor bleeding through.

Lance leans forward, “so you admit it.” He says pointedly, sticking a finger in the air, “we _are_ in-laws and going to get tiny cat wedding dresses and rent out the Voltron cathedral.”  
  
Keith laughs again, it’s such a sudden bubbling sound that is Lance looking at his mouth again, “If you can get Red into a wedding dress then I’ll rent you out a reception hall too.”  
  
Lance leans forward, setting his brow, “Challenge accepted. You might regret this Keith Van Horn.”  
  
Keith was looking at his feet and not responding to his nickname, he glances up, “sure.”  
  
Lance shifted from foot to foot, maybe _regret_ was the wrong word at the moment. His skin prickles, “Well, get ready.” he looked around, “Next time. We should, I mean we could do this again sometime.”  
  
Keith’s lifts his head slightly, “forget our umbrella’s and get soaked in the rain?”

Lance scuffed his shoe on the deck and shrugged, “sure, why not. Sounds like how I roll.” Lance felt like he should dig deep and access his basic flirting skills here. He just stares dumbly at Keith’s curtain of dark bangs.

What were they doing.  
  
Keith nods and his eyes soften, “I suppose that’s what I would expect from you.”

Lance bounces his eyebrows up and down, “And what do you expect from me?”

Keith wets his already damp lips, opens his mouth, and then closes it again, Lance waits, Keith looks up, “Is the proper response here ‘not much’?” He says blankly as his deep purple eyes meet his lightly.

Lance huffs, “Not at all,” He puts his hands on his hips, “the proper response is ‘beauty and the ultimate spaceman charisma’ or just ‘Lance,’” He winks, “you’ll be hearing about him’.”  
  
Keith sniffs and raises one eyebrow, “first of all, do I want to know what ‘spaceman charisma’ is? Besides maybe the next disease on this floating metal rock.”

Lance grinned and his cheeks were still somehow glowing, “you are looking at spaceman charisma right now. Astronaut. Pilot-”  
  
“Cow rider.”  
  
Lance sticks his tongue out, “champion bovine wrangler that is.”

Keith tucked his own damp hair away again and lifted his chin, “Sure.”

It was natural and tense all at once, forgetting things that just happened a moment ago is like that.

The soft tension passes between them and Lance rubs the back of his neck, “okay. Right.”  
  
Keith nodded ever so slightly and then coughed, “yeah.” He looked away and then back up, “do you want...do you want clothes? Dry ones I mean.” He asks as he looks Lance up and down.

Lance bites the inside of his cheek, “I’m uh, I’m good for now. Blue might be waiting for me.”

Keith gives a shallow smile, “be sure to give her some of that spaceman charisma from me.”  
  
Lance flushed softly and then put his hands in the air emphatically to cover it, “spaceman charisma is a limited resource Keith, I can’t just give it _from_ you. Everyone has to earn it.”  
  
Keith’s grin was still there, “my apologies.” He says flatly, “I’ll try to keep in mind the rules of whatever that is.”  
  
Lance chuckled, “That’s all I ask, really.”  
  
The other boy blinked at the ground and then back up, he nods, "And I'll bring an umbrella next time. It will be ideal."  
  
Lance sighs gently. "Good. Yeah."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Their eyes meet and Lance doesn't know what they are doing, _again_. "I should go."  
  
Keith just nods, he didn't know what else he would do.

Keith ends up grinning at him and Lance has to turn away, Lance ends up leaving, Lance ends up a little messed up as he walks away and Keith waves. Lance screams a little internally and he goes to the gate.

 _It had been brief_ he says like a chant to himself, and he ends up making it out with only the slightest tingle on his lips. His cat was somehow more bold with romance than he was.


	10. Eject me Into Space (Please)

Shiro’s duplex was about twice the size of the normal apartment, it had an entire room for laundry, a pantry, two bathrooms and everything. That was apparently his dividend for being a real astronaut with an actual rank- and perhaps a reward for maybe not pissing off every authority figure he ever met (but Keith figured he didn’t need a room exclusively for laundry).

 

Keith had got the text in the middle of an application to go off-world, the application was 27 pages long and he had no idea what his current red blood cell count was or magnesium levels. He decided to answer the text instead and trek all the way to the nicest residential area of Voltron.

 

He almost knocks on the front door with his forehead.

 

Keith settles for kicking the door roughly and scowling up at the sunny gray sky overhead, he hated the sun Proxima Centauri, he hated their artificial air that made him think of drinking flat soda. He hated seeing his tense, weary face, among other things, in Shiro’s glass front door.

 

“Shiro!” He kicks it again.

 

He waits for another minute before hearing a distinct, “Come in! It’s open.”

 

Keith shuffles into Shiro’s mudroom, that was a room also just for mud, he doesn’t bother to hang his coat up as he lurches into the kitchen-dining room area.

 

Shiro had his back turned to him as he stirred something in a pot and wiped one of his hands down on a slightly pink apron.

 

Keith walks in and hops into one of the stools next to the kitchen island/breakfast nook,  _ thump _ , he thunked his head on the white granite counter. The granite was cool against his cheeks and he proceeds to groan deeply into the countertop.

 

“Uugh.”

 

He could feel Shiro looking back at him with whatever brotherly concern felt like as a stare, “Long day?” He finally asks, Keith just groans again. Shiro chuckled, “okay, a very long day.”

 

He heard Shiro walk over to him and lean on the counter, “did something happen?”   
  
Keith propped his chin up on the surface and frowned, he gave a long exhale as Shiro stared at him expectantly. “Something dumb.” He met Shiro’s eye and almost grimaced, “incredibly dumb... I’m thinking of moving.”   
  
Shiro gave a small grin, “where to?”   
  
Keith hunched his shoulders and slumped down, “the nearest space hovel.” He says flatly, “I’m thinking twenty thousand light years away… a desert star.”   
  
Shiro sighed through his nose, “I can talk to Graham again if we need to…”   
  
Keith placed his forehead back down on the counter, it was his only solace now. “Don’t bother.” He mutters, “It’s worse than that.”

 

He felt Shiro study him from across the counter, he had his attention, “Okay?”   
  
Keith scowled and brought his arms up, he sniffs, “I think something’s burning.”   
  
He looked up to see Shiro cringe, “On sec.” He walked over to the burner down and Keith sat up slightly to give him an even look, raising one eyebrow ever so slightly. Shiro put his hands up as the pot bubbled, “don’t tell Matt.”   
  
Keith opens his mouth to grouse at him and the fact he should probably just give up on cooking at this point, but he hears a series of clicking and tapping behind him, “I already told him!”

 

Both of Keith’s eyebrows raise, he turns around swiftly to see someone else in the corner of the room, she was in a loose green hoodie, a pair of cargo shorts and had a motherboard propped on her lap. She was adjusting the wires to it absently. Pidge Gunderson, or Katie Halt depending on who you talked to, was sitting in the corner of Shiro’s apartment.

 

She raised one hand loosely, “sorry, don’t mind me, go back to your crisis.” She pushed her phone away before looking down at her work, “Matt just told me to tell you that he can smell it from next door. And sent a crying smiling face.”   
  
Shiro momentarily buried his face in his hands and then looked up the ceiling like he was asking for God. He turns the burned down again helplessly and then looks back at Keith sheepishly, “See? We all have problems.” Shiro smiled gently over at him, “I’m sure yours can’t be that bad.” Keith could throw something at him.   
  
Keith blinks, he opens his mouth, he closes it. This would be the perfect time to admit that he couldn’t apparently hold down a kiss if he was Fort Knox and the plucky heroes were there to rob it in an action comedy. So it was kind of that bad.

 

Keith also didn’t even know how to begin a ‘ _ kissed this guy, you may know him. Now I’m dying. _ ’

 

He just blinks instead and then looks over his shoulder, “what’re you doing here Pidge? Don’t tell me you have extra assignments.”   
  
She shrugs, “I was going to look at Shiro’s Altean tech, but I also thought I’d stop him from getting food poisoning again too.”   
  
Keith waved, “you’re doing a bad job.”   
  
Pidges does a loud stage whisper, “maybe, but I’m still the favorite.” Keith just makes a face back at at her and she smiles. Technically, no one younger than 16 was supposed to make the wormhole jump to Voltron, but Katie had forged a fake identity and snuck on to follow her brother and father out here.

 

Shiro met her too.

 

The other man was also trying to salvage what appeared to be mac n cheese and Pidge offered to order a pizza already.

 

Shiro walks back over, wiping his hands down like he hadn’t just stared at a pot burned to hell and back for two minutes, he pats Keith on the shoulder, “So tell me what’s wrong.”   
  
Keith just shook his head, “I’m interested in being ejected into the middle of space to live alone in a hovel. This really isn’t that new.” He pushes away from the counter, “Though the smell of burnt cheese is one to add to the list.”   
  
Shiro runs a hand through his hair in exasperation, “this really isn’t a Graham thing?”   
  
Keith shook his head, “it’s kind of,” he pauses and plucks at the bottom of his jacket, “about my cat?”

 

Shiro’s eyes go wide, “is she okay? We can get a vet, there’s an emergency clinic, they might take cats.”   
  
“Nothing like that.” Keith wasn’t meeting his eye, he had said too much already. “She’s uh, it’s a social problem.”   
  
Shiro leaned forward, “is she lonely? You know I’ve offered to bring Midnight over,” he was grinning, “they could bond, Midnight could use being socialized.”   
  
Keith wrinkled his nose, “I dunno, sounds a little dangerous with Midnight’s...skills. Besides, it’s uh, kind of the opposite of ‘lonely’.” Midnight was Shiro’s hybrid earth-Altean cat. She was something else.

 

Shiro tilted his head, “Alright. You’ve lost me, start from sort of beginning.” He put a finger in the air, “or we could skype mom and dad, I’m sure they would want to check in.”   
  
Keith put his hands up, “maybe later.” He could put that off too because if he did he would have to admit he was on probation again (though that was almost a constant now), and it would be a long talk.

 

Shiro gives him a knowing look, “So?” Keith just shakes his head and a silence descends.   
  
“Spit it out,” Pidge called from the other side of the room with the dining table and the only plant Shiro owned next to her, “what are you, going through a second puberty?”

 

Keith set his jaw and scowled at her, “I’ll tell Matt that you're messing with alien tech again, wasn’t that a problem after the last explosion?”   
  
Pidge grimaced slightly, “wow, you are looking lovely today Keith. Your problems are very understandable and valid.” She blinks, “you are really really valid right now Keith, keep going.”   
  
He shook his head and then glanced back over to Shiro, “you know you are the enabler in all this.”   
  
Shiro just shrugged, “She asked nicely.” Keith just snorts at that, Pidge was right about her status.

 

The room goes quiet as they looked at Keith expectantly again, his skin prickles.

 

He waits another minute before taking a deep breath, Shiro was patient. Finally, Keith looks up, “My cat…” he begins slowly, a struggle going through his entire system. “Is seeing this other cat.”   
  
“Oh,” Pidge said softly from behind him, he looks at her jerkily, she nods, “sorry, Lance was just telling me about that.”   
  
Keith almost groans aloud again at that, _ did everyone know everyone on his metal floating continent? _

 

Shiro tapped on the table to get his attention, “go on, we’re listening.”   
  
Keith waits another minute before continuing, he chews on this, “and they were...friendly.”   
  
“Uh-huh.” Shiro was going from concerned to very concerned for most likely any alleged ‘space madness’ coming on.

 

He searches the air for something, but Pidge piped up again when Keith doesn’t say anything, “Yeah, Lance said they were dating!” She contributed after the long pause.

 

Keith nodded fervently, “yes. Sort of. Cat-friends.”   
  
“Right,” Shiro looked concerned for all three of them now.

 

“But then they uh, got too close. And now they aren’t.”

 

Shiro crossed his arms across his chest, “so your cat is depressed?”   
  
Keith set his jaw, “she’s...frustrated. She can’t go outside right now, I’ve had to keep her in for two days now.” That part was true, he didn’t want her dragging Blue over.

 

Keith and Shiro have a silent stare off as Keith could tell Shiro was bridging on calling mom and dad right now immediately and telling them Keith’s nerves were fraying. Keith would have to bring up the time Shiro pushed him down the stairs to get out of it.

 

They are fighting with a subtle look of brotherly protection against Keith’s wall of ‘I will burn a small building down if you do.’

 

They both jumped when Pidge showed up at the kitchen table next to them, “does this involve Lance?” She asks and all of the blood drains from Keith’s face- and maybe his entire body too. He doesn’t look at her.

 

Pidge as she takes a seat next to him, “because I saw him with Hunk this morning when we were going over our next flight simulation prep.”   
  
Keith snorts, “you need prep to crash?”   
  
“Shut up,” Pidge lightly kicks him, “anyway, he showed up in pajama pants and with five smoothies, most of which he drank himself.”   
  
Shiro leans over to talk to Pidge next, “smoothies?”   
  
“Depression smoothies.” She clarifies roughly, “we buy them after most of our test flights.” Keith chuckles again and she elbows him, “anyway, he looked awful, no skin routine, nothing, he didn’t even flirt with the smoothie girl when she brought us our drinks.”  _ Good _ , Keith’s chest burns but then he looks her up and down.

 

“Is he okay?” His stomach dropped, “he isn’t…what did he say?” He felt like he was giving himself away, but the words just poured out.   
  
Pidge was studying him closely, “he wouldn’t say what was up, but he hung off Hunk’s arm and said his life was over. He mentioned Blue a couple times.” She sniffs, “and this is about a cat thing?”   
  
Keith blinks and looks between the two of them, “we’re very invested in them.”   
  
“Obviously,” Pidge was shredding a napkin in boredom next to him.

 

“Uh-huh,” Shiro was holding his chin, “want me to get Allura? She’s great with animals.”   
  
“No!” Keith sat up straight jerkily, he had a feeling Allura would see right through whatever the hell he was telling them. “No..” He clears his throat, “I’ll just, you know, help Red forget about it. I’ll buy her something, a toy.”   
  
“Right.” They seemed to both say the word slowly.

 

Shiro hummed and then turned around, “one moment.” He went to go scrub the pot and put his fire alarm back together after taking the batteries out to cook.

 

Pidge pokes him, “why don’t you just talk to Lance? Sounds like you like your cat just as much as he adores his. Did you know his family sent him Blue on some special freight? They wouldn’t even let me bring my dog.” Pidge complained slowly and Keith mulled those words over.

 

“I think I’ll just avoid him,” Keith said absently and he heard Shiro hum from across the room, Keith narrowed his eyes at him. “For less drama. With our cats.” He finished carefully.

 

“Well,” Shiro looks over his shoulder, “if you ever need anything to go over this. I’m here.”   
  
Keith balked at the hand on his shoulder, but he nodded. Maybe this is what he was here for.   
  


Pidge rolled her eyes at him, “you should just talk to him about cat-dating, he cares way too much about this too. I’ll call him now.”   
  


“No, absolutely not,” Keith practically kicked a 14-year olds ass for a moment, Pidge frowned at him.

 

“You know,” She said slowly, “he honestly probably doesn’t hate you if that’s what you’re worried about.” Keith sat up straight and forced his face into a neutral expression.

 

He blinks, “I’m pretty sure he just wants to mess with me forever,” Keith stared down at the ground and concentrated on his shoe laces. “He has a complex.”

 

Pidge threw the shredded napkin across the table, “okay, true.” She propped her chin up, “but I once had to listen to him go on for an hour about how good a pilot you were and how it wasn’t fair, and no wonder all the chicks had a crush on you.”   
  
Keith blows air out of his nose, “that’s just Lance stuff.”

  
Pidge shook her head, “Hunk called it admiration.” Keith flushed and looked away. Pidge adjusted her glasses, “plus, he complained that your ass was too much to compete with after that.”   
  
If Keith had been drinking something he would have spit it out at that moment, his mouth falls open slightly and he has a feeling he was about to sputter for the life of him. “Well, yeah, okay, well, that’s, well.”   
  
_ Ding _

 

Keith is saved by a doorbell ringing and the smell of pizza, he exhales. Thank God Shiro couldn’t cook.

 

Shiro was still looking at him, “is this a rivalry thing between you two?” He asks softly.

 

_ Ding _

 

“Because I could talk to him too.”   
  
_ Ding _

 

Keith glared at the door, “We should really get that.”   
  
Shiro stares at him for another moment before reluctantly going over to the door, Keith exhaled and pushed some of the other napkins across the table.

 

“So,” Pidge was placing her head down, “you’re down with illegal things, right?” Keith exhales slowly at her and she plucks at another napkin, “because I wanted to get this test done in one of the lower levels. Hunk thinks there are ghosts down there, but I have a better theory.”   
  
Keith folded his brow in, “Lower levels? No.” He tried to convey that he was trying to stew on his own life failures.

 

She leaned back, “come on, just for a little bit, I’ll pay you back.”   
  


Keith shook his head, “I’m not helping you trespass down 14-flights to see if some old tech blinks.” He lays his head down, “I don’t need Matt kicking my ass.”   
  
Pidge stuck her tongue out, “I’ll get Lance to apologize to you, he owes me a favor, I could get him down on his knees for it and everything.” Keith doesn’t say anything, he’s not sure if he can right then. His thoughts were on fire. Pidge sighs, “you are the worst young adult rebel you know.”   
  
He grumbles back irritably, but the pizza was here and that was probably going to be the best part of his day.

 

He changes the topic to the new element discovered in the nearby exoplanet, something both Shiro and Pidge would go on about for hours, and he smiles for a little when they both cheer about isotopes.

 

Matt comes over to eat what was left of their pizza and Shiro stares at him so hard that Keith regrets being born. Keith almost says yes when Pidge offers to call Lance again.

 

Instead, he gives Pidge five credits and tells her to buy Lance another smoothie tomorrow, from anonymous. He deserved that much.


	11. The Second Sewer

Lance was in a sewer. A real sewer, a space sewer, a sewer sewer.

 

He supposed that was a good reflection of his life right now.

 

Now if only the sewage was on fire and yelling at him like his mama did that one night be snuck out and tried to smoke cigarettes with a group of seniors.

 

Neither of those things ended well.

 

Lance balanced what felt like a ten pound flashlight in his right hand and looked on ahead at an aluminum metal hole followed by more aluminum metal hole. The sewer was designed like the nerds who built this place had ‘futurism’ and ‘more metal, right?’ in mind. The ceiling and walls were round and the floor was even slighty curved.

 

It had a shiny chrome finish and was trying terribly to remove ‘sewage’ from the idea of a place that was very much going to hold sewage.

 

Lance walked along a raised footpath beside a river of slurry, there was a dim series of lights on the ceiling just above his head- probably for sanitary smutz like him or hey maybe so the trash didn’t get lost. Either way, he still needed his giant flashlight and probably an advil.

 

He sighs as he peers ahead and tries to not think about his life right now.

 

“Go to space,” he mumbles, “you’ll totally get jacked and cool and be on the best space program humanity has to offer! Totally won’t get stuck with a shit job after trying to ride a cow.” He trudges down the walkways listlessly, Lance was in a sewer. “Totally.”

 

He grumbles and keeps scuffing his feet on the metal as he tries to find a blinking system on the wall, it monitored all the dregs passing through and did most the work no one wanted to do anymore. Until Lance had to do it.

 

He glanced at the gross treated water next to him, “maybe I’ll just hop in.” He kicks the wall, “get with the other trash. No cool space job. No piloting unit. No boyfriend.” His eyes go wide, “or girlfriend!” He corrects to the walls so that they wouldn’t guess that he had one very specific person in mind.

 

He sighs as the silver walls do not respond and do not care about his romantic turmoil. Walls didn’t even know what kissing was or if you could be good at it or bad at it or ran away from it pro bono pre-boner. Sewer walls didn’t care. That was kind of reassuring.

 

He keeps walking listlessly in the universe’s least fun maze, examining the walls to find a flat rectangle that stuck out slightly and looked less wall like than the rest of every other wall.

 

He keeps walking.

 

It’s a far trek, but he was also taking his time with it. Commander Graham was probably ‘testing his limit’ and ‘seeing if he would leave already.’ Graham had never liked him, Lance had barely passed the piloting unit and didn’t from any astral families or politicians with deep pockets.

He was just Lance. From Varadero Beach, who wanted to go to space.

He groans and sends another text to Hunk.

 

Me: :(

Me: :(

Me: :(

Me: This is the end for me Hunk. In a dark hole, no light, all sewer. eject me into space like a burning viking for black hole valhalla after they find my body

Hunk: (...)

 

Lance puts his phone away for a moment, Hunk would probably take a minute to respond with a wall of text telling him to hang in there and that he was great and they would eat like steak lobster after this or something.

 

Lance isn’t sure he entirely deserves it, or that if any living creature deserved Hunk to be fair.

 

He continues to mope to himself until he catches something blinking red in the dark and he turns toward it to flash his light on the far wall.

 

“Ah, yeah,” he finds the faulty monitoring system on the fourth level.

 

Lance descends to a second lower raised footpath.

 

Voltron was technically built on 14 levels, but the first eight were offline and the fourth was the lowest ‘civilian’ one. Voltron had once been a much smaller faux-planet built by first global space efforts and some very distant Altean help.

 

The original Voltron project was officially nicknamed by the Americans the ‘Roanoke Colony’ since they disappeared one year in. There were a lot of theories and movies and weird romance dramas about where the first eighty people went, but most everyone it up to the space crazies and everyone running off.

 

Lance tried not to think about the Voltron Roanoke Colony as he stalked down the dark hall to the blinking red light.

 

“No such thing as ghosts…” he whispers to himself and then glances at the treated water, “just you and the sewage… a sewer man.”

 

Lance takes some of his tools out as he approaches and hums to himself to distract from the hairs on his neck standing up.

 

“Sewer man, sewer man, makes like the trash and gets in the can…” He sings at the empty walls, “nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh, no boyfriend!” He pauses, “or any significant other!” He adds at the end emphatically and feels his palms sweat.

 

He figured no one died in horror movies while singing a jaunty mash-up of the spiderman and batman theme songs, he hums and makes it over to the blinking red light.

 

“Okay girl,” he taps on the panel, “what’s wrong.” The screen is completely blank and Lance scowls at it gently, this wasn’t a jammed transmission or some of the more spritely scientists using an unmarked system to torrent porn.

It was just off.

Lance fiddles with some of the reboot buttons before reaching into his pack for his screwdriver, he reminds himself to text Hunk he really _was_ going to be using his engineering classes. Sewerman really could do anything.

 

He starts to unscrew the panel and inspect the insides, “well, it’s not fried…” Lance glares at the small motherboard, all the connectors and CPUs were in place.

 

Lance takes out his Sanitation Crew Communicator, “Hey,” he says slowly, “This things totally dead.” He waits a minute to hear back from Sanitary Crew Headquarters (they called it ‘The Janitor’s Closet’).

 

“What’s that Lancy-Q?” Kirk, actually named Kirk for _that_ captain Kirk, responded with a slight slur in his voice. Kirk was a 1 in a hundred gem that’s whole family developed things like rockets and artificial gravity. He had a few tricks up his sleeve, but the the guy also tried to turn every plant he ever met into a blunt and every solvent into an inhalant.

 

Nevertheless, Lance couldn’t say he disliked anyone on the sanitary crew.

 

“This things bum.” He says again, “I’m going to start to looking at the wiring farther down.”  
  
“You do you my sweet guy,” Kirk was tapping a beat into the microphone, “you want me to play some zeppelin as you go?”   
  
Lance snorts, “I’m good. But also, put this through to Allura, we might have I dunno, a system failure? Maybe we will need Zeppelin.”

 

“Oh whoa, okay. Catch me some Gangar when you’re down there.”  
  
Lance rubbed his temples, Kirk was not going to be a hundred percent with him on this one. This is what they got for putting him in the room with all the cleaning supplies.

 

“Over, I’ll call back in a couple minutes. Do the Allura thing.”  
  
“She’s like a clarify kind of person, right?”   
  
“I guess?” Lance put his walkie down, “it’s the green button.”   
  
“Yeah, yeah, it sure is buddy.”   
  
Lance put his walkie completely away and started walking down the hallway, he turns his flashlight up another notch and starts to follow the paneling.

 

“Sewerman, sewerman…” He runs his fingers along the wall and his arm hairs stand on end when he sees the next corner dip into something a little darker.

 

Lance knits his brow together, “Kirk, some of the lights down here are failing as well. It really might be a sector issue.”  
  
Lance turns the corner and runs his flashlight back and forth across the wide tunnel with the waste running through it. “No ghosts, no ghosts,” he holds his breath and makes sure the space is completely empty.

 

Not all the lights were off, but some of them were clearly malfunctioning and this hall was depressingly dim.

 

“Roanoke was a scientific anomaly, ghost hunters was just guys wetting themselves at beeping…” He puts his hand fully on the paneling and crouches as he walks into the dark.

 

Lance feels for the access port a couple paces in, “thank God.” He exhales and puts his flashlight on it’s highest as he places it on the ground.

 

Lance’s heartbeat was spiking as he begins to move some of the latches and remove that part of the wall. He feels a little vulnerable with his gear down and a strange feeling creeping down his back.

 

_Ssscrtch scrth_

 

Lance pauses, “what was that?” He turns his head back and forth as if something might respond.

 

_Sscrtch sscrth_

 

“WHAT WAS THAT?”

 

_Sssctcrch_

 

His fingers shake toward his walkie again, “Kirk!” He yells, “I’m hearing something down here!”

 

“Is it good?”  
  
“No, fuck no, it’s,” his eyes go wide, Lance reaches in and looks at the limp and sunken wires, “fuck.”   
  
“Yeah, I hear ya.”

 

“Put me in to Allura, green button, green button!” Lance waits with the walkie up to his ear and puts his rubber gloves on to start pulling some of the wires toward him.

 

They were limp and unconnected, the wires had been disconnected, he tries to explain this until finally he is redirected to the labs.

 

Lance’s whole body feels taut when the noise starts again

 

_Scrth ssscrtch_

 

“Allura, Allura, Allura,” he says through his teeth as he clenches his jaw and is able to drag in the end of a yellow wire. It was completely frayed and broken through, and not cleanly either, Lance curses to himself in his head.

 

“Hello?” A female voice answers slowly.

 

“There’s something fucking down here!” He yells and starts to sweat through his shirt as he sees the end of a second broken wire.

 

“Lance I don’t need to know about any fornication of-”  
  
“I’m so serious right now, Allura, there’s like a sewer monster, sewer demon, I’m gonna be the comedy relief fodder or-”

  
“Are you in danger?” Allura switches to her serious mode.

 

Lance’s eyes flash back and forth, roving over the dark walls and the strange distant sound that he swore was getting closer.

  
He picks up his flashlight and points it into the walls of the colony, nothing, absolutely nothing, should be down here. He gulps, “I don’t know.”   
  
“I’ll send someone down there for security immediately.”   
  
“Uh,” Lance has a flash of someone laughing at him for this, “Maybe?”   


“I have a couple interns scheduled, I’ll send one down right away Lance, I trust you.”  
  
Lance frowns, “I mean…” He looks down deeper into the hole, he hopes he’s not overreacting.

 

“Where’s your location?”  
  
Lance doesn’t reply, maybe he was over-reacting. “It could be a ra-”

 

Lance sees a flurry of movement at the other end, his mouth falls open. “Nevermind! Something,” He backs up and falls backward on his ass, that was a lot larger than a rat. “I’m at quad five section hall 42b!”  
  
Something large and furry and moving was coming down the wired halls and Lance jumps to his feet again.

 

“Sending someone now, stay put. We need to handle any colony malfunctions right away.”  
  
He swallows dryly, “right.” He picks up his flashlight and holds it like a bat, “Right.”

 

Lance’s life was a sewer, and now he was fighting monsters in it apparently.


	12. Cats and Mice and Rats (Oh My)

Keith was putting rubber bands around mice.

It was exactly how it sounded, ergo, getting stretchy rubber circles to put around the bodies of wiggly rodents who often shot him betrayed looks as he ruffled their fur.

“Look, just hold still,” he was the bargaining stage in the five-step process of mice-wrangling.

It squeaked in his hand and he forces himself not to drop the creature as he eyes it’s sharp little teeth, they had already almost punctured his gloves twice that day.

“This is all for your own good.” He huffs, maybe that was the anger part of the process. “I’m the good guy.”  
  
They shoot him more blank, forsaken looks, he sighs.  
  
Keith is almost completely done with Mini-Weiner the mouse (he didn’t name them) when he hears the door swish open behind him in a gentle gasp. Keith turns around slowly and lifts his eyebrows, Allura’s lab coat flaps dramatically behind her as she quickly strides into the room.

“Princess,” he puts the mouse down and goes to remove his gloves, “I’m almost done with the blood pressure tests.”

He tilts his head as her eyes focus on him with steely intent, her mouth was a hard straight line, she had his attention. “I can finish with that,” she put her hand out, “We have more pressing matters.”  
  
He stands up straight, “What kind?”

Allura eyed him, “One of your teammates sent out a distress call.”  
  
“Distress call?” Keith shifts gear as he strips off his blue surgical gloves.

“Yes.” Allura looks him up and down, “you were top of your class in combat skill, correct?”  
  
Keith nods quickly, “close range and long distance.” He clenches his fists, “are we under attack? Meteors? Did one of the scientists, uh, lose it?” His mind races through the possibilities.

Allura put her hand up, “It’s an unknown circumstance. We’re giving you a stun gun and instructions not to use it unless entirely necessary. Something is… active.”  
  
Keith hurries across the room, feeling the weight of his knife in his back pocket, “Where?” He takes a deep breath, “When?”  
  
She hands over a telecommunication device, “The second sewer in the fifth section. Hall 42b, scanners are down in the area since the power cords were disconnected apparently.”  
  
He took off his jacket next and swung it around, “I’ll handle it.”  


Allura followed him down the long winding lab hallways and back out into the grassy quad, Keith was feeling a sharp focus come back to him, some rush that sent a tingle back into his fingertips.

“How many people?” He puts the stun gun in his belt.

Allura didn’t hear him, she was talking on the communicator as they fast-walked, “Hang tight down there.”  
  
“There’s some fucked up noises down here Allura!”

Keith pauses and jerks his head to the side, “Is that…”

Allura was furrowing her brow, “We’re sending someone down right now Lance.”  
  
Keith feels his face pale, “Lance?”  
  
Allura glances up, “Yes.” She clears her throat, “A sewer technician intern. He was doing maintenance and-”  
  
“Lance.” Keith was taking that all in.

Allura raises one fine eyebrow, “Will that be a problem?”  
  
Keith grits his teeth and stiffly shakes his head, “Tell him to stay put.”  
  
Allura nods, “Stay safe. Keep me updated.”  
  
Someone yelps from the other end of the communicator and Keith begins to run past the other scientists and toward the lower part of the city and sewer hatches. His limbs still feel a lightning tinge of adrenaline, but his brain feels something else entirely.

\--------

Keith slides down the ladder of a lit maintenance entrance, the light flickers past his vision as he sinks down. His feet hit the ground and he’s surprised by the sleek metal floors. Voltron was impeccably sanitary but he still wrinkles his nose as he eyes the treated water slurry next to him.

“Okay.”

Keith keeps his eyes forward and starts to jog down the hallways, some other part of him is yelling that he really didn’t want to see said person in danger right now. He’d much rather face the goop monster, the sewer sludge, the whatever, alone in a battle royale pit with just his bare fists.

Keith grit his teeth, he can think a lot of things he’d rather be doing than facing Lance right now, for instance, dying. Drinking two gallons of milk in under an hour. Dying. Listening to Pidge come up with puns for four hours straight.

Fighting a sewer monster in a gladiator match.

He’s running through the possibilities when he spots a flickering set of lights down a gaping dark hallway, he pauses as he studies the broken lighting. Keith takes a small flashlight out, trying to bang it to life until he hears a series of noises.

“Ah!” That was Lance with a sharp yelp, Keith drops the little light and rushes forward.

“Lance,” He clears his throat, “Clear the premises if you can.” _Please._

“Who’s that?” Lance  yells back, just a wobbling flash in the dimness, “ _Keith?_ ”  


Keith lifted his knife from his back pocket, he did not tell Allura he had this when she sent him off.

“I’m here to-”  
  
_Scrrtchscrrtch_

A loud screeching reverberates through the hallways and the scratching of nails against metal sends a shiver down his spine, he hears Lance’s footsteps as he stumbles backward.

“Actually, you know,” Lance swiveled around and Keith can just make him out a ways ahead in the dimness, “I have this covered, totally handled, and you can leave me.” He could see the please written in Lance’s face too.

Keith brandishes his weapons, “Lance,” he pauses, “what is this?”  
  
Lance points to the walls and holds up his massive flashlight, he cringes, “It’ll pop back out in a moment, you’ll see.” Lance wipes his brow, his eyes were a little wild. “But I’m good, totally good, may have my throat ripped out, but, uh, tell Allura to consider other people perhaps next time. You know, when she’s giving my obituary.”  
  
Keith grabbed onto Lance’s shoulder, “We should get out of here.”  
  
Lance turns to him slowly, “We can’t just _leave_ rattenkong down here.” He visibly gulps, “He’ll grow like godzilla-style I bet if we do.”  


Keith felt a crease forming on his brow, “Were you hit on the head?”  
  
_Eeeeeeeerr_

A screech vibrates the air and Lance tenses, “There!”

A black ugly head pokes its face up from the hole in the wall, it’s massive yellow teeth reflecting in the light, “What the fuck.” Keith holds up his stun gun.

“Lord rat!” Lance was bellowing, “stay the fuck away.”  
  
Keith had no idea rat’s could get that big, it might as well be an evil German Shepherd. It had reflective dark eyes and long nails at the end of its thin arms, it’s fur was matted ink black and ears nicked at the edges, it appeared to be almost half the size of a man.

He wasn’t even sure if it was a rat.

Its huge body emerged as it slithered out of the hole with a mane of coarse black hair.

  
Keith had to take a moment to process the giant rat in the sewers, “What the fuck.” He repeats.  
  
Lance shook his shoulder, “Shoot it or give that to me!” Keith realised Lance must have been hitting it with the flashlight earlier.

Keith’s eyes dart forward and his finger instantly goes to the trigger, he lines up the shot and takes a deep breath, “this can’t be normal.”  
  
“Ya think?”  
  
The creature ducks it’s huge head and the pellets from his stun pistol ricochet off the walls, the ‘rattenkong’ darts back and forth across the floor like a medaling gymnast. Keith has a sudden vision of the discovery channel when it hosted a Predator and Prey Week.

“Ah!” Lance shines his light at it and kicks uselessly in the air ahead of him, “Get back.” The rat's haunches raise when the light hits it in the eye, it slows.

Keith blinks, “What are you doing?!”  


“Put your back to me.” Lance said thickly, “combat style.”  
  
“I’m concentrating” Keith huffs and let’s out another round of metal pellets in the direction of the circling animal.

“Stop wasting your ammo!” He puts his hands out, “give it to me, I was actually good at the gun range stuff.”

Keith shuffles away, “I’ve got this.”

“I will bite it out of your hands dude, I swear, don’t test me,” Lance’s eyes were wide and Keith just frowns at him.

“I said I got this!”  
  
The rat drags its long claws across the floor and hovers closer, baring it’s viciously long teeth and opening its wide maw. He shoots once and misses again. “Dude!”

Keith doesn’t think. He rockets forward with his body low, keeping his eyes on the creature's head, he can hear Lance yelling ‘idiot’ after him. Keith takes out his knife.

_Eerrrrrr_

The rat screams at him, Keith slashes the air and lunges, the creature dodges and then strikes with something like a hiss, Keith jumps backward just in time.They dance around each other for a moment and Keith is ready for the death match- but instead, Lance roughly grabs his shoulder and yanks him backward out of striking distance.

Keith jerks his head, “I’m trying to get rid of this thing!” Lance drags him farther back from the creature as it eyes them.

  
Lance scowls at him, “being mauled by killer sewer rat is gonna be the worst way to lose an arm.” He puts his hand out, “Let’s think a bit. Like, I could blind it with the light and you shoot.”  
  
Keith raised both eyebrows, “that’s actually… not a bad plan.”  
  
Lance puffs his chest out, “handsome, young, brilliant strategist, I know.”

Keith blows his bangs out of his face, “Acknowledged.”  
  
Lance’s expression wobbles, but his face grows serious again as the rat creeps forward, Lance saddles up next to him, “Back to back!”

“Really?”  
  
Lance puts his back to Keith’s like they were in an action movie. Keith internally groans, his jaw clenches as he feels Lance’s heat radiating up against him. His thoughts hiccup and stall from his proximity, Keith blurts it out, “We kissed.”  
  
“Not the time Keith!” Lance says in a shrill voice.

“Lance-”  
  
“Nope.” He navigates his light, “Shining my light now.”  
  
He lifts the flashlight and points it directly at the creature’s eyes, it screeches and Keith closes one eye to aim directly at its chest.

_EEeeerrr_

It charges them and Keith braces himself as he lets out the final shots. The stun pullets bury themselves in its chest and side, it makes a strangled noise.

  
“Yes!” Lance punches the air.  
  
The creature falters but Keith’s eyes go wide as it doesn’t immediately fall over, “What is this thing made of!” He shoots into the dark a second time but the ‘rattenkong’ jerked its way to the open electrical panel and threw itself in.

 

“Oh fuck,” Lance tries to grab for it but they can see it’s long winding naked tail disappearing into the hole. They both take a deep breath and glance at each other.

 

Keith lowers the pistol slowly, “It’s…” He blinks a couple times.

 

Lance stands up completely straight, a beat passes, he then grabs onto Keith’s shoulder and shakes it vigorously, “I can’t believe I wasn’t just eaten!”  


Keith’s skin prickles where Lance just touched him, “Should we go after it?”  
  
“If you can fit inside that panel, sure,” Lance pumps his fist in the air and gives him a wild smile, “that thing was made of a bear-shark-fear combo.”  
  
Keith cocks his head to the side and eyes the panel, “I don’t think that creature was all the way stunned.”  
  
Lance shrugs, “Yeah, most definitely, it’s still going.” He turns to him a little, “but hey, humans one, rat like, maybe .99, which still counts.”

 

Keith frowns, “For now.”  
  
“Oh my God,” Lance shakes his head, “back into the light Debbie Downer.” Lance quickly picks up a tool belt of some kind and they turn around quickly. They stride out of the broken hall and Lance was still practically vibrating, he turns to him.

 

“High-five me!” He puts his hand up excitedly, “For not having to get a rabies shot in the ass.”

 

Keith gives him a hesitant look, “Where’d that thing even come from?”  
  
Lance blinks, “Hell I presume.”  
  
He lifts his chin, “What was it doing before I got here?”  
  
Lance puts his flashlight away and they start walking down the center hall, it felt eerily calm after the desperate fight. Keith can sense that they both probably look like sweaty messes.

 

Lance scratches his wrist, “It was in the wall. It was awful, I assume it was feasting on the souls of the damned or something before I arrived.”  
  
Keith takes a deep breath in, “We have to tell Allura.”  
  
“Buddy, I’m telling Allura, God, my mama, the local space priest, my fourth grade math teacher.” Lance rubs his neck, “I think my hands are still shaking a little.”  
  
Keith looks him up and down, “You did good.”  
  
Lance glances at him and a slow smile graces his face, Keith has to look away. “You too, pal.” Lance kicks his ankle, “saved my ass back there. Even if you are an edgy overachieving frown-complex wrapped up into one short boy.”  
  
Keith raises his eyebrows, “I’m really not short.”  
  
Lance laughs, “Sure.”

 

A moment of warmth glows in his chest from the lightness of it, a warmth Keith tries to smother it immediately. The still air seems to tighten around them like a dusty sarcophagus, he looks back down at his hands, “this is stupid.”  
  
Lance furrows his brow as they reach the ladder rungs, “I would classify it more as ‘terrifying’ or a ‘Keith’s mullet scary’ kind of thing.”  
  
Keith rolled his eyes, “I’m not talking about the rat actually.”  
  
“Oh? My mad skills compared to y’alls then?” He winks, “because space monster fighting was like, my first thing I actually thought we’d be doing here.”

 

“No, I mean,” Keith blew air out of his nose, “I mean,” he bites his bottom lip, “You can let Blue out again.”  
  
Lance’s features freeze and they both take a very long moment to string up Christmas lights in their head or sort the good china, Lance lets out a string of high-pitched laughs, “What?”  
  
Keith shakes his head, “Forget it.” He goes to climb the ladder and perhaps bury his face in some sand, Lance grabs onto his wrist.  
  
His eyes are downcast, Lance opens and closes his mouth, “We made a good team back there.”  
  
Keith’s heart was doing that thing again where it banged pots and pans around like a near-sighted angry grandma trying to make brownies in the dark. He takes in a deep breath, “Not a bad one.”  
  
Lance smiles up at him shyly, “I could let Blue out again, and, um,” he took a deep breath, “We could take them on a walk maybe. Talk.”  
  
Keith’s eyes go wide, _talk_ . “No?”  
  
Lance sniffs, “it won’t actually hurt.”  
  
Keith relaxes slightly, “let’s start with cats and, um, smoothies?”  
  
Lance lights up, “I love smoothies.” He lets his wrists go, he bounces, “battle partners and then hardy boys who solve Rat Demon cases next. And who also uh, talk.”  
  
He bites the inside of his mouth, “Sure.”

“You’re hardy boy number two.”  
  
Keith sighs, “I guess.” He looks back over his shoulder, “But you’re number three.”  
  
Lance’s mouth falls open, “Jerk!”  
  
Keith sniffs, “I saved your life.”  
  
“I saved both of our lives. _And,”_ He reaches for the ladder rung below him, “I’m cuter.”  
  
He grins, “I won’t argue with that.”  
  
Lance makes a soft surprised noise, Keith has to look away and start climbing the ladder quickly.

His nerves were still frayed at every corner like a hot-wired sports car, but he feels a weight off his chest, he can hear Lance clambering up right behind him.


	13. Whisker-ed Away

A heavy cotton shock blanket is thrown over his shoulders, Lance picks at the edges of it.

“Is this really necessary?” He rubs the material between his fingers and looks up toward the two EMT workers. They stood over them next their ambulance, Lance sat on a small stool and ‘Julie’ looked into Keith’s mouth with a flashlight.

Lance glances at them a couple times as he hugs the yellow shock blanket to himself. He turns back to a figure in front of him.

Allura puts her hands on her hips, “Voltron has been under attack for a century.”  
  
Lance makes a face at her, “it’s a rat…” He frowns, “I terrifying demon rat, but like,” he puts his hands up, “I wouldn’t say ‘under attack,’ maybe slightly startled? Definitely no military action stuff needed.”   
  
Allura hums at that like she isn’t quite sure, Lance goes pale.

“Really!” Why were all of his friend’s like this.

Allura turns around in circles, “it still was large enough to make the electricity go off.” She paces back and forth. “Who knows what else it could be planning…”  
  
“Uh, probably to eat more trash and mate with a cute girl rat who fears neither God nor the Devil when she looks at him,” Lance shakes his head, “I don’t think it’s smart enough to, you know, plan plan something.” 

Allura’s eyes go wide, “do think it can mate?”  
  
“I mean, yeah, maybe, I didn’t ask,” Lance shrugs, “rat erectile dysfunction and/or love life didn’t come up when we were running from it.” Lance babbles.

Allura chewed on her bottom lip, “I need to go talk to the council.”

“Okay, good, yes,” he tries to catch her eye, “but nothing like, rash.”  
  
“Rash?” She quirked her eyebrow up and Lance is reminded how cute she was. The little world-destroyer.

“Like nuking the sewers or something.” He tilts his head to the side, “or more curfews.”  
  
She shakes her head, “We have to go with infestation protocols,” she was turning to her wristwatch, “I have your account, thank you. We will be going over relevant details to choose the best course of action.”   
  
“Allura,” he says slowly, “wait, please, yes-no, nuking sewers thing? I need to know.”   
  
“Oh Lance, that’s not even an option,” She turns around, “we would use plasma cannons,” Lance’s face goes slack, Allura just puts a hand in the air and waves, “feel better soon!”

He pouts at her and waves back, “I’m fine and good and didn’t actually need a shock blanket!” She was already gone as he tried to preserve his image by calling out after her back.

Lance glances over at Keith who was now having the EMT listen to his breathing, they both share a small exasperated sigh. Keith mouths to him ‘alright?’

He grins, he gives Keith a silent thumbs up. ‘Yeah’ he mouths back as they sit quietly for a moment.

“Lance!” Lance was about to get up and go wobble somewhere to drown his sorrows in ice cream and/or video games when he feels himself being lifted off the ground. “Are you okay? Are you breathing?”  
  
Lance blinks a couple times and then spreads his arms out wide, “Hunk!” He goes to hug him back as his feet dangle off the ground.

“Did it bite you?” Hunk started to frantically check Lance for bite marks as he lifted his arms and checked his neck. “You aren’t going to turn into a vampire rat, are you?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Lance reassures, “I mean, I wasn’t fine, and let’s just say I was glad I was pretty dehydrated today. But!” He puffs his chest out and glances at Keith to make sure he’s looking, “I’m a man and can handle this sort of thing.”

Keith’s head jerks down and Lance watches him valiantly smother his own laughter as he snorts at him. Lance sticks his tongue out.

“Oh,” Hunk looked between the two of them and leans forward, he hides his mouth as he stage-whispers, “that’s cat-boy?”  
  
“Yep,” Lance nods, “we have chem with him too actually but he never goes.”   
  
“Keith! Right,” Hunk turns around and waves at him. “Hi, thanks for saving my friend. He’s kinda...like that, but I promise he’s harmless after all the flirting is over.”

“Okay, one,” Lance steps between them, “My flirting is not harmless, it’s deadly. Ladies and dudes drop dead when I lay my moves on them. And two, rude _._ ”   
  
Keith was laughing again, this time holding his sides, and the EMT lady was also now throwing him looks (not the good kind). 

“Ugh,” Lance just shakes his head and blinks over at Hunk, “how did you know to come down here anyway?”  
  
Hunk straightens Lance’s shock blanket out, “I’m your emergency contact, remember?”

“Oh yeah,” Lance grows a wide smile, “I see I made the right choice.”

Hunk pats his back and Lance feels a rush of warmth, Hunk glances over him nervously to check for marks again, “Sure you weren’t bit? How big was it?”  
  
“Huuuge!” Lance spreads his arms all the way out, “we fought it with our bare hands.” He could almost tangibly feel Keith rolling his eyes at him.

“I think I might literally have died,” Hunk shivered, “beady eyes. But big, erg.”

“Wait,” Keith speaks up like he’d just put a puzzle together, “they’re calling our emergency contacts?” Keith’s eyes go wide, “no.”  
  
As if on cue Lance watches a tall well-cut man with white hair and a scar slashed across his nose approach, Lance’s mouth falls open, “oh my God, is that Shiro? The Shiro?” Lance rubs his eyes to make sure he’s seeing it right, “That guy's my freakin hero!”   
  
Keith glances at him flatly, “Shiro’s your hero?”   
  
“Well have you heard about him? Of course.” Lance looked in both directions before turning back toward him.   
  
He watched Keith massage his temple, “I’ve heard of him.”

Lance flinches and wonders if he was about to watch Keith get yelled at or something, maybe they were brother’s or D&D partners or went to a cooking class together once. Lance realizes he doesn’t that much about Keith’s life.

Shiro strides up with a young girl with short brown hair trailing after him.

“Oh, hey Pidge,” Hunk waves and she holds up her computer as she appears to be scanning them.

“Hey guys,” she nods and then wrinkles her nose, “You guys stink.”  
  
“We were in the sewer.” Lance says tersely, “Fighting the safety of every citizen here.” He here’s more laughter.

“Are you alright?” Lance catches in the corner of his eye Shiro putting a hand on Keith’s shoulder and his eyebrows knitting together in concern.

“We’re really fine,” Keith says forcefully, “honestly, we didn’t even get hurt. Voltron emergency systems just doesn’t have anything better to do.” The EMT worker’s hand twitches at that but she doesn’t say anything.

Shiro glances between the two of them, “well I’m glad you're okay.” Shiro says softly, “I’m sure..” Shiro’s gaze goes back to Lance, “wait,” He blinks and mouths to Keith, “is that the cat-boy?”  
  
“Oh shit, Takashi Shirogane knows my name,” Lance whispered to Hunk.

“The one with the cat wedding thing?” Shiro was murmuring to Keith despite them being only a couple feet away.

“That’s him,” Keith shakes his head, “and don’t bring that part up, I’m hoping he forgets.”  
  
“Boo,” Lance cups his mouth to call out to him, “we’re getting smoothies. And then smoothies at our cat’s wedding, fish flavored. Some brandy in them if Blue wants, she’s sophisticated like that.”

 “This is what I’m talking about,” Keith’s eyes were still smiling.  
  
Shiro chuckled, Lance’s eyes go wide, Shiro laughed at his joke (thing). “I see.”   
  
Pidge looked between all three of them, “hey, the Voltron council is apparently doing an emergency session with garrison officers right now.” 

Hunk leans over to look at Pidge’s arm screen, “military ones?”  
  
Lance goes pale and he leans in, “She promised me she wouldn’t nuke the sewers!”

“Shhh, it’s starting.” Pidge pushes his face away from the screen so they could all see.

“Why are they going to all this effort?” Keith was next to him again and Lance can’t help but feel his heart skip a beat or two. In fact, it was probably the worst tuba player in the marching band since it was skipping all the beats.

Lance hears Shiro take a deep breath in through his nose, “they’re worried about quintessence I think.” He says lowly.

Lance’s eyebrows raise, “quint-what?”  
  
“What would that have to do with rats?” Hunk was tapping his chin, his patented thinking face showing that the gears in his shiny motor brain were spinning away. Lance watches. “Do you think they thought it ate some?”   
  
Shiro just shrugs, “was the rat glowing?” He turns back to Keith and Lance.

Lance arches an eyebrow, “I don’t think so? I think being ginormous was enough.”  
  
Keith shakes his head, “It was just large. And ugly. I don’t think…” He trails off and looks down at the ground, “I don’t know.”   
  
Lance chewed on the inside of his cheek, “at least there was only one.” They all look at him and he gulps, “hopefully only one.”   
  
The live-broadcast council meeting goes underway and Lance sits under his yellow shock blanket as they discuss options. He can feel Keith pressed up next to him as they all crowded around the screen.

The EMT workers eventually checks them off as ‘good to go’ and they wave at them before turning back to the now 2-hour meeting.

“Exposure to quintessence is a highly serious matter councilor,” the elected fourth division councilor, Sheridan, says as he points at the Altean ambassadors.

Shiro had been right about what they were worried about.

“The Altean delegation recommends approaching with the utmost consideration and care,” Allura responds carefully, “As well as immediate action.”

A garrison military adviser frowns as he turns to the elected councilor from the second district, Buel, she was writing down something on a napkin.

“Do you recommend a storming the second level?” The officer asked sharply. “That must be where they are coming from.”

Allura shook her head, “the infrastructure of the second level has been proven to be unsound.”  
  
“Yeah, that’s because they don’t want to bring construction workers up here to fix it,” Hunk grumbled as he comments on the proceedings and Voltron’s basic ‘scientists only’ policy.

“Man power is not advisable,” another counselor agrees.

“We will not tolerate more beasts coming if this from another quintessence leak like from ‘34-”  
  
“Officer,” one of the commanders chides, “there are other options.” He looks toward Councilor Buel- who had been doodling on the napkin.

She holds up a formula and looks between the crowd, “fumigation.” She says promptly, “non-lethal to humans, lethal to small mammals.” She says, “it should effect its nervous system even if it’s mutated.”  
  
The council goes quiet and more low murmuring arises, Lance hunches his shoulders over, “they’re going to fumigate us?”

An Altean stands up, “perhaps a test run off planet.”  
  
“Who is going to cover the costs?”   
  
The council breaks off into a flurry of voices.

Shiro waves his hand in front of the screen, “We should go.” He looks around, “we’ve been on the street long enough.”

Lance shrugs, “it’s not like we somewhere to be.”

Pidge adjusts her glasses as she still focused on the screen, “how do we even know it’s even a small mammal anymore?”  
  
“Come on,” Shiro ushers them on, “enough problem solving.”   
  
Hunk pulls at his collar, “do you think they can get up here?” He gulps, “do you think they recognize faces?” He glances at Lance in particular and Lance just gives him a flat look.

“I think it’s been a long day,” Shiro pats Keith’s back, “why don’t I take you all out to dinner.”  
  
Lance’s mouth falls open, “Seriously?”   
  
Shiro nods, “Seriously.”   
  
Pidge was putting her wrist monitor away, “the council is just about to argue for twenty more hours anyway, so we have time.”

Hunk whoops, “nice!” He punches the air, “Shiro really is the man.”  
  
Shiro chuckles, “for things under twenty dollars each…”   
  
“I’ll take it.”   
  
The other three talk amongst themselves and it somehow feels natural, normal, like they had always been doing this somehow.

Lance looks both directions and then saddles up next to Keith, “what do you think this means?” He asks as they walk down the pristine paved street toward the small restaurant district.

Keith glances at him, “I think it means they’ll keep playing that recording of our voices telling that story over and over.”  
  
Lance tugs on his sleeve, “We’re responsible!”

Keith hums, “look, I don’t trust them any more than I can collectively throw them.”  
  
Lance snorts at that, “you? Distrusting authority? _No._ ” 

“Shutup,” Keith grabs his wrist, “we’ll just see what they decide.” Keith fixes him a steady look, “and handle it together.”  
  
A tingle goes down his spine from that, “and with Blue and Red,” Lance winks, “cats eat rats.”   
  
Keith sighs, “I think we’d have a better chance of training the cats to shoot lasers first. I wouldn’t let Red near that thing.”   
  
“I’m joking,” Lance elbows him as they walk, “what, a day of running around in the dark from nightmare creatures doesn’t lighten you up?” He chuckles.

Keith gives him a wry look, “nothing ever does.”  
  
“That sounds like a challenge!” Lance whoops and gets into his face slightly.

Keith leans a little closer, “I hear you like those.” He grins, “That we were rivals.”  
  
“Who told you that?”   
  
“A little bird,” Keith shrugged, “sort of a loser.”

“I swear to God Keith…” He pokes his cheek, “

“I’m gonna barf,” Pidge was looking over her shoulder at them. “I want free food...not this.”  
  
“Yeah, guys, like, chill, I feel like a mushy Ed Sheeran song is about to play.” Hunk was scrunching his nose up, Shiro wasn’t even looking at them.

“What?!” Lance puts his hands in the air, “Two dudes can’t be bros?”  
  
He saw Shiro raise his eyebrows up at him, Lance wonders if he knows. Lance follows all of them into the nearest well-lit Italian restaurant and continues a lively discussion on Ed Sheeran and which music tracks actually defined his life.

Pidge leaves the table at one point when Lance suggests that the track to Keith’s life was all of Madonna’s classic hits. 


End file.
